Every year we have The Miss America pageant in which beauty queens from all over the country compete to become the next Miss America. This pageant includes a personal interview, a talent portion, lifestyle & fitness in swimsuit, evening-wear and an onstage question. This year on September 15th was the 87th annual Miss America pageant which aired on ABC and was held in Atlantic City. The winner was Nina Davuluri, Miss New York. Nina was the first person in the history of the Miss America competition of Indian descent to be crowned Miss America. This should have been a beautiful moment to celebrate a deserving contestant who also came from a rich cultural background.
Unfortunately, the backlash on twitter and other social media outlets about Nina’s win reminded me of the ignorance and racism that still exists in our country. If you were on Twitter or other social media outlets after the results were announced, you may have noticed a lot of outlandish remarks made by many. Some said, “Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11”, or “An Arab won Miss America” and some people even took it upon themselves to call Nina a terrorist. Of course, there were very supportive tweets commenting on Nina’s beauty, intelligence and grace. However, the negative tweets were the ones that really caught my attention.
Seeing these tweets really made me upset and disgusted by the amount of people out there who think it is appropriate to say such racist remarks. Also, some have failed to understand that Nina is still indeed American even if she is from Indian descent. What we need to understand is that being American doesn’t mean that you have to be white.
A friend of mine shared a link that touched upon this subject:
The first Americans in our country, the Native Americans, were not white. The United States is comprised of many people coming from different countries and making a home here. We are a blend of different cultures that have become one; which creates the idea of the United States as a Melting Pot.
I believe that being American is not about your ethnicity; but about the ideals our country was founded on. We are the land of the free in which all men are created equal. Caucasians, Indian Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans and many other ethnicities all make up the United States. Though we may have different cultural influences and backgrounds, we meet in the middle when we share American values such as freedom and equality. It is the year 2013, and we all need to do better. There should be absolutely no reason comments like this should be made in this day and age.
Nina spoke out to USA Today to share a few words:
“I’m so happy this organization has embraced diversity,” she said, according to [Associated Press]. “I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America.”
As for the negativity, she commented, “I have to rise above that. I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
Nina definitely has the right idea. We all should rise above stereotyping and racism because we have come too far as a nation for that to be so prevalent in our country. Congratulations to all the beautiful Miss America contestants and to the new 2014 Miss America winner, Nina Davuluri.