katniss is POC

katnissisoliveskinneddealwithit.tumblr.com

[katnissispoc]

We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

This is a blog about the white-washing of Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, Haymitch Abernathy, and...

I love your account! I'm mixed (Native American and white) and I feel like it would've made such an impact on me to see Katniss and Prim cas

[amidalaaaaa]

thinking about katniss and asterid again. what do you mean katniss felt the need to put up a wall to protect herself from needing her? that she thought she was going to die without ever setting that right? that she thought peeta stroking her cheek in her sleep was her mother? how didn’t want to wake up because that would mean letting her know how much she ‘craved that gentle touch’? how she makes her feel safe and secure even though she doesn’t trust her? how she misses her even though doesn’t trust her? how after the first games she realised her depression was something she couldn’t help and actively worked to fix their relationship? letting her handle her money? returning her hugs? letting her nurse her when sick? that she believed asterid would be difficult to convince to run away but gale told her she would understand? that they had watched the games together and she wouldn’t say no to her? how asterid had to send her daughter off to every parent’s worst nightmare twice? how she believed she watched her die in an explosion (like her husband)? how they both lost the one person that held them together? that asterid could not bear to return home without prim? not even for her sick daughter? how their previous roles were reversed? katniss depressed and unresponsive vs asterid who threw herself into her work? much like katniss did with hunting? how they cried on the phone together? how they will likely never fix their relationship?

[nibeul]

haymitch

[id: It's two headshot drawings of Haymitch from the Hunger Games. In the first, he's facing the side, wearing a gray suit and white shirt, and in the second, he's looking forward, wearing a white collared shirt that's unbuttoned. He is depicted with brown skin, dark eyebags, gray eyes, unkempt facial hair, and wavy black hair that has some gray strands. /end id]

[tiffyrina]

all of the seam & merchant descriptions.

gray eyes. olive skin. long dark hair, and in (haymitch's case), curly.

blue eyes. pale skin. varying degrees of blonde hair.

do NOT allow for lionsgate, with the go ahead of suzanne collins to whitewash her characters of colour for the coin. do not give racists your support. buy used versions of the books, dvds, merch. do not watch the movie. boycott. outcry. stop being passive in a time where uproar is demanded. do not give them your support when all they have done for the past 14 years, is whitewash, warp, and deny.

listen to POC when they tell you that they're affected by the casting. listen to POC when they tell you that suzanne collins promotes stereotypes. listen to the disabled and the mentally ill when they tell you the same.

we are in fascist times, people. as you all love to say, do not fucking fall for the propaganda. stop being consumerist and go against the things that you will love for a short-term, in order to have a better long-term. i'm tired. the people affected are tired. stop trying to be peaceful in a conservative fandom. there is no room for anyone who isn't anyone who agrees with you here, and we need to start making it common to have other opinions without feeling like you'll get attacked. this fandom needs to come together and boycott. stop the petty shipping drama and the justification for racism shit. stop with promoting harmful stereotypes on behalf of an author who does not care about you and cares about her pay and coin. stop letting nostalgia blind you and start calling for better from the people who supposedly admire.

we do not condone, all of this is wrong.

[blogmix25]

Rip poc seam, we hardly knew you

[amidalaaaaa]

amber midthunder as katniss

[tridentarius]

hunger games fans have rly had their brains blinded by nostalgia and ‘omg this is peak political commentary actually’ bc they go right along w the author who’s father was a veteran of america agent oranging vietnam demonizing the poor revolutionary who’s right to be angry at the class exploitation from his fascist oppressor, which has whipped him and fire bombed his home, which he managed to courageously save several ppl from, simply bc he’s justifiably angry and willing to use violence against his oppressor.

literal horseshoe theory to think that an oppressed person can be ‘just as bad’ as their oppressor. and the thing is an oppressed person has a right to violently resist an oppressor. the nut in district 2 is a military stronghold that supplies a fascist state. gale literally is right for being willing to do the real bloody work of being a revolutionary idgaf. these ppl would bust a vein seeing cassian andor be willing to kill innocents to rebel against the empire. bc yes seeing cassian in his first scene in star wars rogue one kill an unarmed, innocent man is shocking! but you later learn to emphasize and understand that cassian, as a rebel, is willing to compromise his morals and do dirty, bloody work in the greater goal of revolution against fascism. And I bring that example up bc andor is a perfect way to write a rebellion and all its grey morality when suzanne Collins did not in mockingjay she just cast district 13 as being ‘Just as Bad’ as the Capitol whatever the fuck.

[amidalaaaaa]

pre-games katniss everdeen

[amidalaaaaa]

why was sc so insistent on centring the covey around the narrative? making the (seemingly) only musical performers in 12 not from 12, constantly reiterating they don’t belong there and are outsiders. ties to folk music/culture while appalachia has its own roots in folk culture. having a secret graveyard deep in the woods of 12. snow’s ex being a member of the covey, haymitch’s gf being a member, katniss’s dad being a member. being deliberately ambiguous in regards to race (not being from 12 but they live in the seam? lenore dove having green eyes?)

[amidalaaaaa]

gale hawthorne

[st4rgir222]

Do you happen to have any thoughts on why kids in Twelve don’t work until 18? I know SC’s thinking was probably that she wanted an excuse for Katniss and Gale to hunt, not work in the mines, but I’ve been struggling to work out the Capitol’s angle here.

(Love your blog by the way!)

This is a great question with many answers!

Watsonian analysis:

The Capitol has many purposes for this. The first thing that comes to mind is longevity. Keeping children out of the mines actually increases the overall time they are able to work. Growing, developing bodies are devastated by long term exposure in mines (read more about it here). Healthy, normal development = more years working in the mines with a strong adult body.

It’s about productivity, in my opinion, more than anything. Children just aren’t that great at working in mines, this has historical precedent as well. Children are great at working in other labor sectors: factories, fields, etc. But not mines.

Panem is our world but in the future. They know the history of breaker boys. They know the studies that have come out about the long term consequences of children in mines. It just logistically makes sense to restrict mining to adults. And, on top of that, mining isn’t a huge industry in Panem. Additionally to the health risks and ensuring apt adult workers, there just isn’t a demand by numbers. There’s only one main mine and a few smaller ones, with no demand for more as coal isn’t that major source of fuel.

Doylist analysis:

As you mention, no child labor in 12 is probably there to give Katniss reason to hunt and be so skilled with a bow & arrow. But it also emphasizes D12 as the “underdogs”, the least likely to win the Games systematically (implemented by the Capitol).

[nativekatniss]

Katniss reflecting on how her home's faulty electricity is yet another example of how the Seam is coded as a reserve/reservation. Many Indigenous communities still to present day do not have reliable power or clean water! [X] [X]

[amidalaaaaa]

katniss as devery jacobs

haymitch as michel greyeyes

gale as eddie spears

[nobodytellyouhow]

The Seam mirrors Appalachian Coal Camps and miners in these camps were more likely to be poc so it saddens me how long the fandom has gone with the idea Katniss and her people are raceless. Being in the fandom since I was 13, I’ve seen people call Katniss white with a tan or that her race doesn’t matter at all.

It’s gotten better, some call her Native or Indigenous American, but she’s not really that either. Her hunting is out of desperation and hair braid is so her design stands out than cultural practices or ties. She has more in common with Artemis who was likely her character influence.

And even those who acknowledge her likely being Melungeon still seem to view her as mostly white. Yes, she is white on her mom’s side, but still lives in the Seam and is visibly a woc. Melungeons were mixed, but not seen as white, and from that they would get kicked out of the Camps out of blame for starting uprisings so they created systems of hunting and selling woodland animals which feels similar to the Hob, so they very much were their own group.

And they were mostly black!

Melungeons were a triracial group of European immigrants, Native Americans, and African Americans, but given how Natives were pushed into reservations, white immigrants were more likely to eventually move out, and the fact African Americans would escape enslavement or angry confederates after slavery abolition and were less likely to be able to read so the only work they could find/do was manual labor, worked and stayed in Coal Camps more.

But THG fandom is so scared to mention race (other than white). People might call Katniss Native and sometimes mention her Romani descent, but are so hesitant to mention black, in part because they assume she’s only Native (and I lowkey think that may be based on stereotypes about hunting and alcoholism) if they accept Katniss as a woc at all!

But also cause they’re scared to say black as it took YEARS to admit Rue is black. I’m not afraid to say it! She’s part black. She’s mixed black! That’s how to scare THG fandom. B l a c k! BOO!

[nobodytellyouhow]

Katniss Everdeen’s Race Theories

Disclaimer: These are mostly my personal interpretations but I did do research. I tried to include everything. Also ⚠️ for mentions of racism.

Appalachian: canon

• Has canonical confirmation as Katniss says District 12 is part of Appalachia which only has West Virginia completely within the region. West Virginia is also one of the smallest and most forested states, with meadows closer to Pennsylvania, fitting 12’s landscape with the woods, the meadow, and being the smallest District.

• The most notable Coal War, Battle of Blair Mountain (1921), happened in West Virginia due to coal companies owning everything from stores, homes, schools, even currency as miners were paid with scrip over USDs, so miners could only afford company owned places than ones in town, trapping generations of families in Appalachian Coal Camps (1850s-1950s). Some were kicked out of their homes for demanding better pay and conditions, leaving some to rely on hunting animals to survive. During the Coal Wars miners unionized, arming themselves with weapons they used in WW1. In response, anti unionists sent biplanes to drop bombs, also leftover from WW1.

Cons:

• Haymitch being an alcoholic plays into the drunk/alcoholic Appalachian stereotype. While there are in-canon reasons for this, SOTR!Haymitch says he doesn’t care much for alcohol which is to add to his tragedy, but can read as him not being able to help but fall into alcoholism even if he didn’t like it.

• Town/Camps explain the Merchant/Seam class divide, but not Katniss’s physical description as most Appalachians were white and Katniss is only fully white Appalachian on her mom’s side.

Native/Indigenous American: fanon guess?

• Idea comes mostly from Katniss being a hunter living off the land and how her hair braid is significant to her character design. There are also similarities to the Seam and poor reservations due to government neglect.

• Katniss’s description fits some features common amongst Native Americans.

Cons:

• Native Americans are not a monolith and should not be treated as an umbrella term as it denies diversity. If she is Native by being a hunter/archer, she would come from a tribe of hunters/archers, but her hunting is more out of desperation than cultural ties. And her braid seems to be so her design stands out than culture too. (Also possibly a reference to Mother/Maiden/Crone as Katniss’s arc could potentially reflect the Triple Goddess.)

• Katniss is likely a reference to Artemis as she uses a bow to hunt, wears a braid, is uninterested in romance more than most, and has a tall hunting partner, Gale, who could reference Orion.

• Native Americans also get stereotyped as alcoholics so Haymitch is/would be a racist/classist stereotype doubled.

Melungeon: implied

• Triracial minority typically within Appalachia, giving (subtle) canonical conformation, and being European immigrants, Native American, and mostly African American, some of whom worked in Coal Camps after escaping enslavement/slavery abolition including from Confederate Virginia to Union West Virginia.

• Can fit Katniss’s description, and some are known to pass as white, like Prim.

Cons:

Stereotyped as untrustworthy, primitive/savage, isolated/rogue, and prone to fighting to justify ostracizing them, and as targets for arrest/blame for violence during Coal Wars, some of whom were said to be making, hiding, or disrupting weapons, which has potential negative implications for Seam characters portrayed as angry or fighters by extension.

Affrilachian: inferred?

African American Appalachians. Worked in mines more than Melungeons, especially in West Virginia, but often forgotten. Not all Melungeons live in Appalachia, but all Affrilachians do. Have their own folk music, cultural practices, and folk stories. Resembles description. Same stereotypes. Not much to add since they could still exist within the Melungeon interpretation it’s just that I found out Melungeon used to be a slur, though has since been reclaimed, and possibly mixed (white/indigenous) Affrilachian is better, but I’m no expert on Appalachian culture and most don’t know this as they’ve been erased for so long.

Romani: coded (descendant)

• Has authorial confirmation as SC stated she sees the Covey, specifically Lucy Gray, as “a bit” Romani which formed around/within the Seam. Katniss is a direct descendant of Covey living in the Seam.

• Common appearance fits most of Katniss’s description, but still only as a descendant.

Cons:

SC used the G slur instead of Romani. While this was likely out of ignorance than malice, it holds negative implications for Romani people, especially women, and by extension her Covey/Seam characters as it’s used for appropriation, exoticization, tokenization, and fetishization sadly enough. It can also unfortunately read as careless, and using Romani as an aesthetic out of convenience.

Iraqi: influenced

• Has authorial confirmation as SC stated THG was inspired by the Iraq War (2003–2011.)

• Common appearance fits Katniss’s description.

Cons:

• THG being inspired by Iraq makes Gale’s downfall from building a bomb in a ‘Slavic District’ (13 is RRMC or “underground pentagon” in Pennsylvania made during the Cold War, turned Bolshevik which was a fear of the US at the time that America would fall due to internal Communist spies and invasion) that is known for bombs due to having too much “fire” and hatred, fall into stereotypes for Arabs and Slavs. (Yes not all Bolsheviks or Communists were/are Slavs but in America, especially then, Communism was associated with Bolsheviks who were associated with Slavs similarly to how not all Arabs follow Islam but Islamophobia is used to describe prejudices against Arabs.)

• THG being inspired by the Iraq War (where America invaded Iraq, capturing dictator Saddam Hussein who was executed, but war persisted for years as America stalled soldier withdrawal to continue occupying Iraq, claiming to “search for WMD” that didn’t exist as Iraq destroyed them around the Gulf War in the 90s which post-9/11 xenophobia justified) Americanizes Arab history, and potentially leans into American Exceptionalism/Saviorism.

Raceless/Post Race:

My least favorite take honestly speaking. THG has racial segregation between Districts (D11), and within them (Seam), and ethnic relocation (Covey). Any “futuristic” race mixing is from this canonical racism based on 1800s—2000s racism. Also, race mixing does not mean race ceases to exist as race evolves, not disappears. (Like how we today view the Canaanites. They did not “disappear” from the Earth or dissolve as a people by mixing with other peoples. And if a race does seem to disappear it’s more likely a red flag for genocide, mind you.)

Also Post race leads to whitewashing such as the movies due to its race blind casting. This is less about inclusivity and more about erasure. Abolishing race as a class should not lead to erasing it as an ancestral and cultural identity. Post race wants to imagine a raceless society, but anyone who does automatically does so under their own cultural lens, resulting in appropriation and erasure.

What is her “true” race?

The Seam! The Seam is its own canonical racial minority. However, the Seam is a mix of different cultures/experiences taken from POC, Iraq (03 War), Romani (Covey being nomadic), and Melungeons (Miners in Coal Camps), seemingly to blend them together which sadly leads to generalization and possibly orientalistic themes.

What do I think Katniss’s race is?

EVERYTHING AND NOTHING. In all honesty, I think Katniss's race was meant to be vague to be more relatable for (white) 2000s readers. Her racial ambiguity is for the audience, the plot/lore references, than for herself. Her racial identity is only as relevant to her as the plot allows it to be. It seems to me that for THG, race mixing is done for the sake of ambiguity (aesthetics) which is used as a tool for combining and generalizing groups of people to tell an American Civil War story where in the end a mixed girl kills a commie dictator over a fascist one like a true American 🦅.

Katniss says she has that “Seam look,” being from the Seam is part of her characterization than her identity, while implying whiteness is not just the canonical majority, but the narrative default. Here, being a person of color is defined by how otherized one is from the white class. Character’s races do get to be explicitly identified as long as they are white, and only coded if not. So it’s kinda less of a raceless society and more of a society that has white people and raceless people of color strangely enough.

This is why in THG (and other fantasy books of its time), features like coily hair and monolid eyes are not named, but white only features like blonde hair with blue eyes are. It’s fine to describe characters with this combo but feels unbalanced with the way characters of color are depicted. But make no mistake, Race does exist in THG, but only two: White and racially ambiguous. (The two genders of THG.) You can be white, light non white, or dark non white. Race in THG exists but it is defined by its proximity to whiteness.

What to make of this?

You can still have these hcs, but it's important to be aware of the prejudices they may hold or stem from. Be aware of the type of racism THG has; albeit white favoritism, orientalism, and American Exceptionalism, and try not to parrot them in the fandom.

Support fan creators of color!

Ignore people who say the Seam/Covey are white people with a tan because they read with their eyes closed and/or brains turned off.

Learn magic to cast spells to stop white millionaire authors from being weird when writing brown people.

Have fun and keep fandom spaces supportive and friendly.

[peaonfire]

 I fulfilled my promise about the reaping, or at least lent a hand, but she says I can’t come to her yet. I have to look after my family.

My little contribution for EverlarkWeek2026 Day 2 - Found Family

(Peeta had to take the picture)

[c0ldbr3wcaff]

book everlark ( def took inspiration from the movies tho for their looks!)