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Miss America, Nina Davuluri Brushes Off Racial Criticism
Twenty-four-year-old University of Michigan Alumna Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America on Sunday night at Atlantic City. While there was a feeling of pride for the South Asian community in America, her win stirred a harrowing twitterversy where people made all sorts of racist comments angered and upset by her win.
She even performed a Bollywood dance number based on the theme of 'Celebrating Diversity through Cultural Competency', which left many upset, flustered, confused, and further fuelled the racist controversy.
Davuluri was crowned 2014 Miss America beating out two more Asian Americans finalists to win the crown, including 4th runner up Rebecca Yeh, Miss Minnesota who won the talent part of the competition playing a touching rendition of Henri Wieniawski’s Scherzo and Tarantella on violin and 1st Runner Up Miss California Crystal Lee, an intern at Dropbox with two degrees from Stanford, who competed on the platform 'Women in STEM.'
Nina Davuluri on stage performing to a Bollywood number and while she was crowned. /AP
Davuluri is a resident of Syracuse and first ever American to win the beauty pageant of Indian descent. Her family migrated from the state of Andhra Pradesh thirty years ago. She is the daughter of an OB/GYN and plans to become a cardiologist after serving as Miss America for a year.
Although the win was supposed to be a happy and joyous occasion – a mark of progress – it quickly turned sour with the flurry of tweets that accused Davuluri and called her an “Arab”, “a foreigner”, and some even made outright racist comments such as “Miss America. You Mean Miss 7-11" and “Miss America is brought by their sponsors PF Changs and 7-11.” Here is a compilation of all the racist tweets collected and posted by Buzzfeed, which shows the extent of racism that continues to exist.
According to the Wall Street Journal, many commentators like Buckeye Elizabeth chose to attack Davuluri for being a Muslim, which is problematic in itself. Not shy of controversy, Davuluri was also accused of calling her predecessor, Miss New York and Miss America, Mallory Hagan, “fat as f***”, which turned out to be a false claim after a thorough investigation by the Miss America Organization.
Compilation of tweets via dailymail
What is admirable and remarkable of this drop-dead gorgeous beauty is the sanity by which she has handled the situation!
“I have to rise above that,” telling reporters at a press conference after the event. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.” quoting huffingtonpost.ca
At a press conference, she also said, "I'm so happy this organization has embraced diversity. I'm thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America." She plans to use her $50,000 prize money to attend medical school and become a doctor and complete her undergraduate degree in brain behaviour and cognitive science in 2011 from University of Michigan.
Davuluri talked to 'Good Morning America' in her first interview after the crowning, "It was the first time Bollywood was performed on the Miss America Stage, and its such an honour for myself, my family and the Indian community as well."
During her 2014 year of service as Miss America, she will travel about 20,000 miles each month to speak to audiences about her chosen issue. Davuluri Miss America 2014 will serve as the official national goodwill ambassador for the children's charity group Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
This is not the first time the organization has faced racism controversy. In 2010, when Rima Fakih who was of Lebanese descent was crowned Miss USA, many jumped to quickly linking her to the militant group, Hezbollah.
Tell us what do you think about this controversy. Is our society really ready to embrace diversity?
Feature Image: Mel Evans/AP
Images & Source: dailymail.co.uk, businessinsider, people.com, and wallstreetjournal
Youtube: WorldStar!
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