Hunger Games

I recently watched the Hunger Games movie, only to find out afterwards that there had been some backlash at the casting of black actors in certain roles. People never cease to amaze me.

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Here are two interesting articles about the issue: Racist Hunger Games Fans Are Very Disappointed and I See White People: Hunger Games and a Brief History of Cultural Whitewashing.

A bee in my bonnet

There are a couple of things on the news these days that make me yell wildly at the tv, ranting like a crazy person.


The story of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager, unarmed except for a pack of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea, who was shot by neighbourhood watch capitan George Zimmerman. Zimmerman claims that he shot Martin in self defence and has yet to be charged, the authorities in this case failing to realise that self-defence is an argument to be made in court after being charged, not an argument to prevent being charged in the first place. The dearth of reporting on this case in its first few weeks is appalling. It is only now that the FBI are getting involved that the news is hitting the mainstream media, despite the incident happening in February.


The other story that gets my goat is the new legislation around abortion and mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds in the American South. Nothing says it better than these Doonesbury cartoons, which have been banned by some news outlets. Similarly I get enraged when I hear arguments as to why women working for Catholic institutions in the USA shouldn't be entitled to free contraceptives as part of their insurance package. What has happened to women's rights?


Women "have settled for a cheap, knock-off version of gender revolution. Instead of equality at work and in the home, we settled for "choice", "flexibility" and an exciting array of badly paid part-time work to fit around childcare and chores." This article hits the nail on the head, explaining why we should get angry, fight back, take a stand.

Equality And Diversity Training

I have just completed a course for Equality and Diversity training run by NICEM. The course explored the dynamics of racism and equality on an individual and organisational level, and looked at anti-racism legislation, ways of challenging discrimination in the workplace, and even looked at formulating action plans, both personal and for our chosen organisation.

It was only a 2 day course, but managed to cover a fairly extensive range of topics in that time. The aim was for practical the application within the workplace, and how to encourage a diverse and equal working environment.