I recently came across an article about the controversy outpouring from the fact that three of the actors in the very successful movie, The Hunger Games, were black. I was completely set back by some of the responses and comments people made about this casting choice.

I never thought that people would be mad about African Americans being in a big Hollywood movie, seeing as how it seldom ever happens anyway (unless you are a big name actor like Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Forrest Whitaker, etc). Some of the comments made disturbed me and made me wonder why skin color has such a huge impact on what we think of movies.

A very good point was made in an article from Jezebel.com saying that everyone was so upset when Rue died in the book, but once they find out she is black, all of a sudden it isn’t a big deal.

It saddens me to think that we live in this world where the color of your skin determines whether or not your life means anything or if you are even capable of doing or being anything successful. So the question I want to ask is how relevant is skin color and nationality when it comes to determining someone’s worth? How much does it really matter, or should it even matter at all? Also, what part does the media play in these ideals? Do they help the situation, or simply add more fuel to the fire?