Disappointed Hunger Games Fans

America has exasperated me for the past several weeks with the ongoing coverage and updates on the Trayvon Martin "investigation" and racist campaign bumpers stickers created by Obama non-supporters but I've been trying to bounce back.  I try not to let those types of things get me down.  Of course, just when I think I can go back to blogging about shoes, bags, and clothes, I come across an article on Jezebel about book fan reactions to The Hunger Games movie.  As you all know The Hunger Games movie was released over the weekend.  The highly anticipated movie was expected to do well with so many fans of the book written by Suzanne Collins.

The movie did make history by being the 3rd largest grossing movie in box office history ($155 million) but many book fans were disappointed in the casting.  More specifically, they were let down that there were so many characters in the movie who were black (namely Rue and Cinna).  Wait...what?  Nope, you heard me!  The Jezebel article has photos of tweets posted by several people who were "disappointed" that Rue was a black girl.  One tweeter went so far as to say that Rue's death wasn't as sad after discovering she was black. 

This breaks my heart.  I've read many books which later were turned into movies.  Everyone knows the book is always better because the movie never captures all the details outlined in the book, sometimes it changes the storyline completely.  But to be disappointed that the race of the characters weren't what you expected is absurd and straight up racist.  It also shows that many did not read the book carefully since the author described Rue as having "dark brown skin".  Be sure to read the entire article and view other tweets posted on Jezebel.  There is also a The Hunger Games Tumblr (unofficial) page which has many of the comments (positive and negative) from the movie and the book.  America has come so far but still has so far to go.  

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Un-Fair Campaign

Maybe this is too deep for a Friday but I've been meaning to post something about this for several weeks.  Have you seen or heard about the Un-Fair Campaign?  This campaign is designed to raise awareness about white privilege, provide resources for understanding and action, and facilitate dialogue and partnership that result in fundamental, systematic change towards racial injustice.  The ads are meant to illustrate the various ways white people are not effected by racism in the ways minorities are effected.   The things they take for granted are not privileges all races have.  The ads feature white faces with various statements about white privilege, seen here:

I have mixed feelings about this campaign.  As the majority, white people have the power to make the most impactful changes when it comes to racism, discrimination, and other unfair racial practices. The problem is (and what I THINK the ad is trying to show) most white people aren't truly aware of how much discrimination still exists (because they are not regularly subjected to it), how to identify it (because it's usually done in a subtle or sneaky manner--as it's meant to be), and most importantly what to do about it.  What I dislike about the campaign is that it feeds into the stereotype that ALL white people live privileged lives and whisk through life oblivious to all the hardships minorities experience.  As with all stereotypes, there is some truth represented here but it doesn't apply to all.  I'm interested in hearing your feedback.  Do you think this is an effective way to raise awareness in the white community?

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2012 Racism

Attack the issues, not his race.  Period.  The end.  No further questions.  That is all.

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Rhianna Receives Racist Remarks

I recently learned about racial comments that appeared in a Dutch magazine about popular R&B singer Rhianna.  Andrea Brown, author of the blog The Uptown Lounge, has a more thorough account of the article.  Some of the "highlights" of the write-up refer to Rhianna's shoes as  "pornheels" and refer to her as "ghetto a**" and a "n*ggab*tch".  Read the entire article here via The Uptown Lounge.

It's sad to learn these types of things are still happening in 2012.

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