Catwoman was traditionally a white villainess despite Eartha Kitt but the producers of the old series cast her that way anyway and then you had the horrible movie with Halle Berry.
But like someone else said, their casting choice was the least of that movie's problems, especially considering they could have done worse than an Oscar (and multiple other awards) winner.
The script was lousy, the plot was paper-thin, the characters weren't believable, and except for the title the movie had absolutely no ties whatsoever to the actual Catwoman. Even if they had cast a white actress, it wouldn't have saved that film.