Miss America is the pageant that every girl dreams about being in and whose winner every boy fantasizes being with (if you know what I mean). I mean, who hasn’t wished to be one of those beautiful girls one point or another in their life? I know I sure have! But is the dream in reach for everyone regardless of race and skin pigmentation?
The 2013 Miss America was chosen last weekend and the winner was Miss New York, Nina Davuluri. I, for one, loved her talent, which was a traditional Bollywood dance and thought she was a beautiful representation of an Indian woman. But not everyone agrees…
Unfortunately some people believe that she didn’t deserved the title, not because of character but because she was brown.
Racist comments such as those made referring to Davuluri as a terrorist were thrown at her through social media networks such as Twitter. “I think it’s insane and illogical,” said senior Shikha Talwar. “People just say whatever they think is gonna get the most likes and favorites on Twitter. I think they’re just out there to get attention but they’re really just ignorant and they have no idea what it means to be an Indian. And even if you are Arabic it doesn’t automatically mean you’re a terrorist. The ignorance of people and what they said is awful”.
It’s sad to say, but people just generalize and group others into a category and its simple ignorance. When racists, like the individuals who mounted an attack against the new Miss America, refer to others as terrorists, they generally intend to refer to Middle Eastern Muslims, a belief that is inherently racist in and of itself. These ignorant comments hurt not only the people they to which they were said, but others as well. Azra Din, who is a Muslim junior studying chemistry here at Temple said, “I feel really sad to hear [that] because that’s on us. Just because someone’s religion and a minority group have extremists, they assume that everyone is like that and it makes me depressed and upset to hear about that.”
I’m glad to say that this ignorance isn’t entirely spread on Temple’s campus. Not only are Indian-American and Muslim-American students upset about the attacks on Nina Davuluri, but students of all different backgrounds and cultures too. Kendall Jackson, a senior advertising student says she has no tolerance for racism and she doesn’t “think it is fair for someone to bash someone because of the color of their skin.”
The open-mindedness of Temple’s student body is so refreshing. Hopefully we can spread this awareness. Like senior Evan Douglas said, “Let her live man!” The Owls are soaring with you Nina, and we say, “Wear that crown proudly for all the kids that were told they were too different or didn’t fit the criteria of what was expected.”