“…I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.” — The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Photography by J. Moysa
Dress by Huckleberry Clothing Company
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No more stolen relatives. Bring them home.
Now that I have your attention…
Let’s discuss why this month is important: May is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Month which brings the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirited People (MMIWG2S+) to the forefront of conversation; and as I and many others see Katniss and the rest of the Seam residents as Indigenous, I feel I can’t let this month pass without making a statement.
I am not going to be silent about political issues. If I can combine my art form (cosplay and costume design) and my activism to help spread awareness and to help support issues close to my heart and which affect me and my loved ones personally, I absolutely will.
Indigenous people make up less than 2-5% of the Canadian and US American population but represent approximately a quarter of all homicide victims. They are 10-12 times more likely to be murdered or come to physical harm. Over 60% of Indigenous women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
In the United States, Indigenous women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. One in three Indigenous women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Native perpetrators.
Why I chose this method of highlighting this issue with an image of Katniss Everdeen is because if we view her and the residents of the Seam through an Indigenous lens, it becomes incredibly clear how the books — either directly or inadvertently (however you interpret SC’s intentions while writing these characters) — highlight so many issues faced by our communities.
These issues, such as the direct impact of living in impoverished communities and how this often leads to harsher and more dangerous consequences by simply existing in a society which sees you as an other.
If we use this lens to view Katniss, Haymitch, Prim, Gale, Louella and the other Seam residents, one can start to understand how simply existing becomes dangerous and how survival becomes resistance.
As is the case in many Indigenous communities (and so many other communities of colour), those who struggle with poor mental and physical health, poverty, addictions and discrimination; those undervalued by society are often subjected to their worst consequences.
Such issues with examples directly from the books include:
The unnatural amount of deaths of Indigenous women and girls in police custody which correlates with Louella’s death at the Capitol’s hands even before the Games; for her to then be replaced by a nameless girl from D11; which we’ve been shown to be predominantly Black. This also highlights how often little girls of colour — be they Indigenous, Brown or Black — are seen as interchangeable and expendable and often dehumanized from a young age.
The failure of society to protect Indigenous women from exploitation and trafficking which Katniss makes note of and directly states that Seam girls are often forced to turn to the sex trade and are noted to have slept with the Head Peacekeeper to make ends meet.
Taking Indigenous children and placing them in foster care at high rates which plays into Katniss’ fear that her and Prim would be placed in a community home if their mother was to be deemed unfit, so she kept her mother’s depression and their subsequent starvation a secret to keep her family together.
Purposeful chronic underfunding of essential human services like food, water, health, housing in so many Indigenous communities — with this being in clear correlation to how the Seam is described by both Katniss and Haymitch being othered and living in higher poverty than the town. This in turn directly correlates with how many slips each of the Seam residents have in the Reaping bowl as compared to the townsfolk (who are explicitly described as being White), as they simply are not able to make ends meet in the same way and must either accept deprivation and subsequent starvation or the danger of providing for their family by accepting help in the form of Tesserae and the higher chance of being Reaped for the Games.
With the casting of these characters as White on screen, it removes all of the nuance that the text of the books created and created a new one, that of white saviourism. They are now White folks leading the poor and oppressed tributes and then later on, districts into a Rebellion.
We have seen this narrative in so many other forms of media and hearing so many people say that we are wrong for interpreting those from the Seam as indigenous, and that the only default is white unless explicitly stated, is exhausting and incredibly tone deaf to a large part of the fandom who has been here for over 15 years since the first book was released.
How non-Indigenous people can show support and be an ally to the Indigenous community, especially during this month:
Read and share the MMIWG2S+ Final Report and the calls for justice.
Hang a red dress or shirt outside your door or establishment.
Support any vigils, events or discussions that your communities may be holding.
Attend discussions, vigils, and any space where families and advocates are taking the time to organize and educate.
Look out for one another and listen to Indigenous people; too often our voices are drowned out by those who are sometimes well meaning but choose to speak above us on issues and in spaces that belong to us.
Thank you for taking the time to read if you’ve gotten this far.
I know we as a community can come together and make spaces safer for everyone if we all share our knowledge and experiences and watch out for our neighbours.
Stay safe everyone.
Sources:
https://amnesty.ca/red-dress-day/
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2019/may01.html#:~:text=The%20homicide%20rate%20for%20Indigenous,1.42%20homicides%20per%20100%2C000%20population
https://pampalmater.com/tag/mmiwg/#:~:text=This%20infrastructure%20of%20violence%20is,%2C%20water%2C%20health%2C%20housing
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2023001/article/00006-eng.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/ss/ss7008a1.htm#:~:text=A%20total%20of%205.7%25%20of,females%20(12.0%20versus%203.9)
My own lived experience as a born-as-female Indigenous person.
