Political Memes

The house elves are the single most fucked up parts of the books for a number of reasons. And Winky is a particularly unfortunate example.

But devil's advocate, Winky didn't become an alcoholic because she as no longer a slave, per se, and definitely not because she was lazy or whatever stereotype slavers would suggest of black people. She became an alcoholic because she was extremely depressed. A) She grew up indoctrinated into this service role and felt like she had failed her mother's memory by being removed from serving the family like she had. B) She was separated from her surrogate child that she'd single-handedly cared for for over a decade (who turned out to be a murderer and a wizard nazi, but she didn't know that) and couldn't even tell anyone about it. Not saying the situation isn't fucked and more than a little gross. But I don't see the alcohol use a problematic aspect with any deeper racial meaning here. It isn't a character failing to fall into depression in this situation, given the character's background.

Also, for what it is worth, after the initial shock of finding out what Barty Couch Jr had done and that he'd been kissed by the dementors, she did eventually accept things and come out of her depression. And she was among the elve's that fought in the Battle Of Hogwarts, making her a hero as well. It's a mixed bag, man.