On September 15, 2013, the first women of Indian descent was crowned Miss America. While New York native winner Nina Davuluri cried tears of joy, many angry twitter users voiced their opinion of who the REAL Miss America should have been: white-skinned and red-blooded. These opinions were ignorant, blatant racism.
“And the Arab wins Miss America, classic.” – @Granvil_Colt
“9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?” – @LukeBrasili, Luke Brasili
“Miss New York is an Indian..With all do respect, this is America” -@savannah_dale97, Savannah Dale
Not only did many people on twitter mistake Nina Davuluri as midde-eastern, they failed to recognize that America is hardly characterized as “white.” According to Hunter College of New York City, within the last 180 years the U.S. has admitted almost twice as many immigrants and refugees than all other countries combined. With a statistic like this, what’s more American than someone of a different ethnic background? According to many twitter users, a white woman.
The outrage not only resulted from Davuluri’s race, but from her talent: a Bollywood fusion dance to honor her Indian heritage. People deemed her talent as “un-American.” Senior Casey Marley commented on the outrage, “Someone can do an Irish step dance without anyone blinking an eye, but when someone does a Bollywood fusion dance, there’s uproar.”
Davuluri responded to the racist remarks with poise in an interview with USA Today, “I have to rise above that. I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
The backlash on twitter exemplifies the absolute misunderstanding of what is American. According to the United States census, 37 percent of Americans are non-white. As the United States grows more diverse over time, beauty pageants and other cultural representations of beauty should readily reflect these changes.
“American” should not be represented by “white,” but accurately shown with diversity.
Is the characterization of non-white as non-American simple ignorance or conscious racism? In a time of supposed higher education and ever-growing technology, one thing is sure: primitive minds still exist…and dwell on twitter.
