This past
weekend, the Miss America 2014 pageant took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The 87th pageant was the first to crown a winner of Indian descent. That does
not mean Native American, but a person from the country of India. Nina
Davaluri, a 24 year old studying to be a doctor from Syracuse, New York, was
the first Indian-American to win the Miss America pageant, what most would see
as a major accomplishment. However, after Ms. Davaluri was crowned, she faced
plentiful backlash from social media, mostly full of racist remarks. One would
think that in the 21st century this would not be occurring, but sadly it did
and still does.
I personally did not watch the pageant, but news obviously spreads fast these days. I was doing stuff on my computer when I read something about the wonderful Miss Kansas, who served for the Army and overstepped boundaries by showing off her tattoos, not winning. At first I was a little disappointed, that was until I found out the winner actually happened to be another woman who broke the boundaries. A woman named Nina Davaluri who is an Indian that can dance very well. I was surprised and thrilled, however the social media and other people believed otherwise. Many people on social media, such as Twitter, were posting racist remarks. Here are some of those tweets and more can be found here.
" Are you serious??!! The Arab wins??!! This is miss AMERICA!!! Not miss Arabia!!! Miss Kansas is in the army and is a country girl!!! C'mon"
"This is miss America not miss terrorist #getoffthescreen #USA"
First of all, just because she is brown skinned, does not mean she is a terrorist. Secondly, just because she is brown does not mean she is a Muslim or from Arabia. Lastly, just because you think she is a Muslim does not mean she is a terrorist either. Is this really what America has come to? I thought USA was supposed to be a free country where anyone could practice their own religion and a country that accepted everyone. That is not what it seems like. It seems like we live in a country full of culturally ignorant and intolerant people.
Our founding fathers envisioned our country to be a place where anyone can come and live without being judged for what their skin color is, what their ethnicity is, what their religion is. That is what our country is based on, yet this foundation does not seem to hold true.
People have judged Nina because of the way she looks and her ethnicity, saying she is not American. Just because she is of Indian descent does not make her any less American than any other person living in America. It does not mean she isn't a true American. As Ainee Fatima says, "It turns out we [American South Asians] can win your spelling bees, scholarships be your doctors and even be crowned Miss America but we're still not considered American." How in the world is that fair?
I personally did not watch the pageant, but news obviously spreads fast these days. I was doing stuff on my computer when I read something about the wonderful Miss Kansas, who served for the Army and overstepped boundaries by showing off her tattoos, not winning. At first I was a little disappointed, that was until I found out the winner actually happened to be another woman who broke the boundaries. A woman named Nina Davaluri who is an Indian that can dance very well. I was surprised and thrilled, however the social media and other people believed otherwise. Many people on social media, such as Twitter, were posting racist remarks. Here are some of those tweets and more can be found here.
" Are you serious??!! The Arab wins??!! This is miss AMERICA!!! Not miss Arabia!!! Miss Kansas is in the army and is a country girl!!! C'mon"
"This is miss America not miss terrorist #getoffthescreen #USA"
First of all, just because she is brown skinned, does not mean she is a terrorist. Secondly, just because she is brown does not mean she is a Muslim or from Arabia. Lastly, just because you think she is a Muslim does not mean she is a terrorist either. Is this really what America has come to? I thought USA was supposed to be a free country where anyone could practice their own religion and a country that accepted everyone. That is not what it seems like. It seems like we live in a country full of culturally ignorant and intolerant people.
Our founding fathers envisioned our country to be a place where anyone can come and live without being judged for what their skin color is, what their ethnicity is, what their religion is. That is what our country is based on, yet this foundation does not seem to hold true.
People have judged Nina because of the way she looks and her ethnicity, saying she is not American. Just because she is of Indian descent does not make her any less American than any other person living in America. It does not mean she isn't a true American. As Ainee Fatima says, "It turns out we [American South Asians] can win your spelling bees, scholarships be your doctors and even be crowned Miss America but we're still not considered American." How in the world is that fair?
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