I'm Aware of the New Casting Decision for the Live Action Avatar

I must admit, the fact that we're not getting stuck with Jesse McCartney as Zuko brings me joy. Also, from everything I've heard about Dev Patel, he sounds immensely talented, and I'm tempted to watch the film only because I want to see what Patel does with Zuko.
That being said, it feels like, as Avalon's Willow states, "so many dry, thin bones" we're being tossed, to try to keep us quiet about the whitewashed cast. Not only that, but it reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie, with the race issues inherent in some of their decisions.
I'm referring, to, specifically, their decisions to avoid controversy by representing the Telmarines as they are portrayed in the book: that is, vaguely Arabic or Middle Eastern. That was a good decision. In doing this, however, they cast the Telmarines as Spanish conquistadors, making the movie instead about the good, white Anglo-Saxon Europeans, (and their dark-skinned friend), battling the treacherous, hot-blooded, Mediterranean Europeans. In attempting to keep people quiet about one race issue, they only managed to bring up another.
I know this makes it seem as if filmmakers "just can't win" when it comes to race, but I'm not saying that. What they need to do is actually be aware of the race isues involved in their decisions, and actually act on those issues. When someone points out, "Hey, this movie about an 'Asian-based world' seems to have an all-white cast," someone, somewhere along the line needs to do more than just brush away the criticism. Someone needs to do more than just give us some stereotypically ethnic extras, and a single non-white character, particularly when he's a villian. (Or even the anti-hero; even if he is the most interesting character in the story.) Someone needs to say, "OK, it's time to stop using the 'these were the best actors we could find' excuse, because nobody's buying it."