[JohnTruels]

I think the sci fi/fantasy/slipstream genres attract a lot of minority fans and they have a vocal presence online. There have been several incidents in the past where publishers whitewashed characters that were specifically described as people of color by the author - for instance Jaclyn Dolamore wrote a fantasy novel with an African American protagonist and Bloosmbury put a white girl on the cover instead. Ursula Leguin's Earthsea Trilogy, which featured many main characters of color, were nearly all cast with white actors. However, from what I read in the blogs, Collins was pretty vague in her description of Katniss and said "she wasn't any race in particular," so I guess I don't see the big deal in this particular case.

Generally, I do think when people (the membership here being mostly white) read about a character in a book without knowing what they look like, they automatically assume they're white without even thinking about it. It's understandable. Will this change as people become increasingly conscious that most people living on earth don't look like that? probably. I was having a discussion the other day where I mentioned that referring to pink-beige shades as "flesh" or "nude" is offensive and it took a disturbingly long time for the person to get it: "wait, what?! ......oh."