I never watch the Miss America pageant, but I wish someone would have told me that an Indian-American girl was a contender! I would have watched it then! Namaste, sister. As it turns out, this year’s Miss New York is an Indian-American named Nina Davuluri, and last night she was crowned Miss America. It’s a groundbreaking choice – Nina is the first Miss America of Indian descent. For her talent, she performed a Bollywood-style Indian dance.
Moments after winning the 2014 Miss America crown, Nina Davuluri described how delighted she is that the nearly century-old pageant sees beauty and talent of all kinds. The 24-year-old Miss New York is the first contestant of Indian heritage to become Miss America; her talent routine was a Bollywood fusion dance.
“I’m so happy this organization has embraced diversity,” she said in a press conference after winning the crown in Atlantic City, N.J.’s Boardwalk Hall. “I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America.”
Her pageant platform was “celebrating diversity through cultural competency.”
The native of Syracuse, N.Y. wants to be a doctor, and is applying to medical school, with the help of a $50,000 scholarship she won as part of the pageant title.
She is the second consecutive Miss New York to win the Miss America crown, succeeding Mallory Hagan, who was selected in January when the pageant was still held in Las Vegas. The Miss America Organization will compensate Hagan for her shortened reign.
Davuluri’s victory led to some negative comments on Twitter from users upset that someone of Indian heritage had won the pageant. She brushed those aside.
“I have to rise above that,” she said. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
She had planned to go to the scene of a devastating boardwalk fire in the New Jersey communities of Seaside Park and Seaside Heights Monday afternoon. But pageant officials canceled that visit after learning that Gov. Chris Christie was making cabinet officials available at that same time to business owners victimized by the fire. Davuluri will visit at an unscheduled future date, pageant officials said early Monday.
She will still make the traditional frolic in the Atlantic City surf Monday morning.
Her first runner-up was Miss California, Crystal Lee. Other top 5 finalists included Miss Minnesota, Rebecca Yeh; Miss Florida, Myrrhanda Jones, and Miss Oklahoma, Kelsey Griswold. In the run-up to the pageant, much attention was given to Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, the Army sergeant who was believed to have been the first Miss America contestant to openly display tattoos. She has the Serenity Prayer on her rib cage, and a smaller military insignia on the back of one shoulder.
Vail won a nationwide “America’s Choice” vote to advance as a semi-finalist, but failed to make it into the Top 10.
So, about the Twitter backlash… I just read a CNN story about it, and I don’t know whether I should cry out of frustration or laugh at the parade of morons who decide to tweet some of the most ignorant, racist, idiotic bulls—t ever. Here’s a treasury of stupid:
“If you’re #Miss America you should have to be American.” [Note: she IS American.]
“WHEN WILL A WHITE WOMAN WIN #MISSAMERICA? Ever??!!”
“And the Arab wins Miss America. Classic.” [Note: Indians are not of Semitic descent.]
“Well they just picked a Muslim for Miss America. That must’ve made Obama happy. Maybe he had a vote.” [Note: she’s Hindu, not Muslim]
“The liberal Miss America judges won’t say this – but Miss Kansas lost because she actually represented American values. #missamerica.” – Todd Starnes, host of Fox News.
“Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11.”
“this is America. not India.”
“Egypt dancing? This is America.”
“Miss America right now or miss Al Qaeda?”
“9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?”
“Miss America is a terrorist. Whatever. It’s fine.”
Jesus. Christ. Is this really what “America” thinks of Indian-Americans? This is so depressing.
Photos courtesy of Nina’s Instagram.
God some People are so gross!! She is beautimonous AND poised, good for her!
Congrats to her! However that contest has a very long way to go, I am not appeased by this win at all. Its clearly still judged using the caucasian beauty ideal and this win is no different. She is simply a darker version of that blond beauty queen from deep Kansas. It seems like the PoC who win do so inspite of their ethnicity, in other words their features could pass for white.
Also those judges really need to start acknowledging beauty in different body types. None of that is the contestants fault though.
So very true. When someone who looks like my sister wins I will be convinced that this pageant celebrates all versions of American beauty. But yes, it does feel good to know that someone of Indian descent can have the crown. Its pretty awesome and I hope she enjoys her year.
That’s offensive.
What do you actually expect Indian women to look like? She looks like an Indian woman to me, not white at all. She has a straight nose that is very common among indians and also east africans – are they white women look-a-likes also? What came first anyway? The chicken or the egg? Maybe it’s white women who have THEIR features. Either way, she could never pass for a white woman so I don’t even know what your comment is on about ugh.
@ A
Bless you for this. I’m Caucasian (blonde hair, blue eyes, the whole boring bit), but one of the things that makes me SO angry is when people refer to the facial features of non-Whites as “White features”. Honestly, some people need to travel outside their own country or even outside their own town and see how incredibly diverse the peoples of the world are. And let’s all say this together one time: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WHITE FEATURES. It’s the truth. There is no such thing as “White features”.
@A. Goodness wtf is your problem? I’m a brownie and I had no idea she was one. Sorry she doesn’t look like 80% of the Indian girls I meet and alot of them are stunning as well. The criticism IS NOT directed at her. It’s directed at pagent judges and society and media for having such a narrow standard for beauty.
And @maureen of course there aren’t WHITE features to you because everyone has considered that the NORM and standard to follow for years. You sure as hell will probably say that there is such a thing as Asian features or African features or probably even Inuit features.
@A and Maureen
There are white women with almond shaped eyes or broad faces. And there are Korean women with angular facial structure or wide eyes. However those are the minority. I dont get your argument that we shouldnt associate certain features with certain races at all.
I would be excited if an American of Korean extraction won Ms America. I would be MORE excited if said woman had features that are predominant to the race. It would be a step in deleting the racist mentality that pervades the beauty industry.
Sorry, I can’t keep the responses in order.
Re: “white features”…I was referring to the descriptions such as “full lips” and “thin noses”. OBVIOUSLY, Korean people–for example–have eyes that are vastly different from Caucasians and other races. What I’m objecting to is *describing* facial features using “White” as an adjective. This is pretty simple, so please don’t make my comments seem complicated and perplexing.
Also, maybe some of you yelling at me failed to see this comment that I posted elsewhere. Elephant in the room:
“As much as I feel that a fair racial representation is vital in any aspect of a healthy, functioning society…I still think there’s a huge elephant in the room that most people ignore when it comes to these pageants, and it’s not race. It’s what these women actually LOOK like. The piles and piles of makeup, the plastic surgery, the breast enlargements, the fake-bake tans, and the hair styles that makes them look 10 years older than they are — all of that. I wonder why these phony standards of beauty are so prized or if they aren’t prized, then why doesn’t anyone talk about it? I find the fake, over-done look of these women far more offensive than how many (or how few) races are represented. Because even if lots of minorities were featured in these shows every year THIS is how they would still all look.”
Wait, what? Straight noses, oval faces, smaller lips are NOT average features for Indian women and East African women particularly in the Horn of Africa? I’m with Maureen, do some traveling! I’d understand if you were talking about skin color because yes, there are Indian women who are a lot darker than Nina but as far as facial features? That’s like the facial features they are known for!
A
I am mildly amused by your insistance about the facial features of East African women. There are indeed Ethiopian, Eriterian and Somali tribes that have the angular facial structure you mention. However to claim that they exist in sufficient numbers as to define the beauty standard here is a joke. I believe the point OP was making is that although Indian women who look like this exist they are in no way representative of the race. And further these types of women are singled out because their race identifying features are muted.
Wow, this is a very good thread right here. @A and @Maureen, you have really made me think and opened my mind a bit this morning! Always blown away by how intelligent and thoughtful many posters on this site are 🙂
@Maureen
I hadnt seen your other comment, I agree wholeheartedly.
I still dont get your objection to this thread but perhaps my brain isnt fully firing. A beauty standard drawn primarily from the features of one exalted group is being applied to everyone. Sure, a tiny minority among us will pass but that hardly matters. The Standard has to expand!
@Njeri
I don’t understand what you are trying to say? Even the darkest Somali, Eritrean, Ethiopian woman has straight noses etc I have traveled quite a bit so I have personal experiences plus I have not revealed where I myself am from.
These are not a minority in their own country, they are not the “exception”, they are the rule, which is why I wrote above: Which came first. The chicken or the egg? You cannot lump “black” people into one “race” since race is man made. There is so much variation among the black “race”. As much as any other “race”. As much as you talk about beauty standards, you yourself is judging East/Horn of African women and Indian women as one convenient stereotypical view of their “race”.
I don’t actually know what you think an average indian woman or east african woman look like. I’m curious to know though.
I also think some of the anger comes from not fitting into that beauty standard.
It’s like how some women hate the fact that blondes are always represented as (one) of the beauty standards and resent that and take it out on blond women.
That is the wrong way to go about it. If all women should be represented, then ALL women should be represented, including those blond women we always see as the beauty standard.
Not fitting into that beauty standard does NOT mean you are not worthy so there is no need to take out that anger on those indian women and other minority women who DO happen to fit into that beauty standard.
A
Lol! Where to begin…. I probably do not have a fraction of the travel experience you keep bragging about. I do however happen to have been born, raised and currently reside in the region. I think that would atleast match your incredible and extensive travelling in terms of knowledgeabilty.
My friend and I are very puzzled that you think that all the tribes in the horn have similar features. Ethiopia alone has 400 tribes. And I have never met anyone who lives here think that say the Amhara look anything like the Nuer. Most people could pick an Oromo out of a line up. The features vary across the country. The stereotype that straight hair narrow noses are predominant in Ethiopia is just a stereotype. Its probably informed by the fact the tribes that urbanised tended to be those who were deemed “civilised” on account of those features and were specially targeted for formal education. The oval face, narrow nose, straight hair WOULD be out of place in parts of the country.
In responce to your question regarding what the average East African looks like, let me remind you that in addition to the above, East Africa comprises Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eriteria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and S. Sudan. You figure it out.
And yes we are all just jealous at all the pretty girls *rolls eyes*. Nobody is begrudging Nina her win. We are just noting that it IS NOT indicative of PROGRESS on this matter. If you’ll excuse me, got to get supper ready.
I can’t understand the lashing out you’re doing at “A”. Are you actually trying to understand her perspective and insight? She is making total sense to me and I don’t see anything offensive in her words.
@Maureen
I also found A very condescending with all that I-have-travelled shtick. WTF?! So, this is frigging amazing. An actual local versus the “traveller”. Ladies of the internet, beware that the WorldWideWeb is world wide, you will be called out on the crap you spout about other cultures……by people from those very cultures.
@Njeri
Your post made my morning! It really has.
Mindy, she also states that those challenging the status quo are just “angry” at not meeting the beauty standard as set. What do you even say to someone so misguided?
@Sara
What do you say to such reasoning? Nada. You cut your losses, some people are not worth the effort.
I agree with nerdmomma this is a great site for intelligent conversation and excellent postings. This is an entertaining way to learn about this topic. Debates are awesome!
Strictly speaking (before we added the politically correct ethnicity questions to demography data for clinical trials), Indians are caucasian
Ummm… I’m about as white as you get and I have got neither a narrow nose or full lips. Generalization bothers me, overall. Upholding “whiteness” as a sin and equated with racism no matter what the context bothers me.
If you think only non-white people feel awful next to this standard that the beauty industry holds so dear, you are sadly wrong. I almost got my nose shaved down when I had surgery for a deviated septum but I decided not to. Might have helped me feel prettier, honestly, and that’s sad. I agree with the poster above who said that it’s the beauty industry’s ideal that needs to be changed, not the “whiteness” of it.
All in all, those twitter idiots are pathetic and I feel deeply sad for them.
She has caucasion features because she is caucasion. When will people understand that India is multi-ethnic and that the darker skinned South Indian austronesians (Mindy Kaling) are ethnically, and therefore physically distinct from North Indians (this is what Miss America appears to be). This girl and all other N Indians are not TRYING to look like anything other than what they Naturally are.
Njeri and Bijlee you’re experience with Indian women seems to be with only one particular indian ethnic group. For anyone to say that N. Indian features aren’t “indicative” of the Indian race just because the majority of the Indians in America happen to be of S. Indian descent is ridiculous. When you get a chance google Sikh or Punjabi, I think it might be an eye opener for you.
@Maureen- Why are those of us with blue eyes and blonde hair boring? Do you really have to be that politically correct that you call yourself(and us other blue-eyed blondes) boring? Speak for yourself, I guess. There is nothing wrong with being a caucasian. i wish people would get a new schtick
@Nina yeah I’m indian who also happens to be a north indian girl thank you though. I have had experience with tons of indian women and pakistani women and bangladeshi women. The issue isn’t that she’s not a representation of the “ideal” Indian woman. She’s a representation of what works in that narrow standard of beauty that’s accepted at pageants, fortunately it’s “diversity” because she’s also indian. She looks like every other girl there at the pageant. She’s ethnically ambiguous at least to me, she’s also SOUTH indian. Beauty is so narrowly defined is the issue. Most of these pageant girls look exactly the same.
And note I said 80% I MEET so clearly I have some sort of inkling of the diversity of facial structures and beauty of the subcontinent.
Woah, I feel like I need to clarify here!
First of all, I think I’ve been a little misunderstood because I definitely did not mean to come off as condescending at all.
What I really wanted to say was that there is so much diversity in both Asia (and Africa since we were talking about East Africans, specifically Horn of Africans as well), so to say Nina isn’t a good representation of indian women is wrong in my eyes, and I am only speaking of facial features here, not skin color or body.
So we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one!
Also, I think most of us know indians are caucasian hence why we write ‘white’ and ‘none white’, race is a man made term anyway, and also, who falls under the category of ‘white’ changes and has changed a lot. There was a time not long ago when Italians and jewish (asheknazi), irish people and heck even germans were not considered ‘white’.
Anyway, do I think there should be more diversity in terms of skin color and other facial features such as wider noses (which I love btw), yes of course!
I just think that if someone was to pick a good representation of the average indian woman then Nina would be perfect facial feature-wise. That is all. I have said nothing of her skin color and bodyshape which obviously is a whole other thing.
There are some good and clear pics of her at JJ that will show you exactly what I mean.
Someone like Frieda Pinto for example is NOT (IMO) a good representation of what the average indian woman looks like (and Indians will tell you otherwise as I’m sure you know, she gets a lot of crap from indians for not being beautiful enough which is ridiculous).
@ Bijlee
A person of a particular ethnic background who also phenotypically happens to fit some notion of Western “beauty ideals” is as valid a candidate as someone who doesn’t. She has every right to be there even though she doesnt look like the “80%” that you happen to be familiar with. Even the notion of 80% is problematic because it implies that unless you look like the majority you are somehow ill qualified to represent the whole. Ultimately she is still representative of Indians and no 1 Indian can be a true representative of an entire subcontinent. India is a multiethnic nation.
Your comment that she is ethnically ambiguous is ridiculous; the MILLIONS of Indian women who look more like her than others we could point to are not racially “ambiguous” because they do not have features that YOU readily identify with.
@Nina This is not criticism directed AT HER.
“A person of a particular ethnic background who also phenotypically happens to fit some notion of Western “beauty ideals” is as valid a candidate as someone who doesn’t. She has every right to be there even though she doesnt look like the “80%” that you happen to be familiar with.”
No f-cking duh. Do you see me anywhere arguing that she doesn’t deserve to be a candidate? The criticism is being directed at THE PAGEANT for pursuing a beauty ideal that is super pathetic and incredibly narrow. Just because their are people of color who fit that bill DOES NOT make it an okay beauty standard. It is based of a white ideal so please pull your head out of the sand. That is what is being discussed here. Derail all you want, but realize the issue at hand.
In this context of pageants, yeah the ethnically ambiguous woman of color is typically valued now even in media. She’s enough of it to be considered, especially since she looks like a more “stereotypical Caucasian,” ie she fits in that narrow standard JUST enough for them to consider her. Do you get what people were criticizing now?
OH and nina. Miss America is a south indian sister ala Mindy Kaling. So no…she’s not north indian (like I am!). A pageant white washes their contestants nuff said.
My head is not in the sand, but feel free to pull yours out of your ass, and I understand your point about the pageant upholding a particular beauty ideal.
But if you were as adept at reading comprehension as you are at needless cursing ( very classy by the way) you would have understood that my criticism of your comment is based on your implication that she isn’t indicative of Indians because she doesn’t look like the majority of Indians, and your equally assinine assertion that her features make her ethnically ambiguous.
Only people trapped in a particular world view would claim that a particular look that they were unfamiliar with equates to that individual being ambiguous. There is nothing ambiguous about her look since she looks like so many other Indian women. It’s only ignorance that compels people to place her in the miscellaneous pile because they have arbitrarily decided what Indians look like. Guess what? We look like everything and everyone under the sun. Sorry if that’s too ambiguous for you…
Thanks for pointing out that she’s S. Indian. I stated in my very first post that she “appears” to be N. because of the hoopla around her features.
And finally, do pageants select out those who do not fit their notion of beauty? As you so eloquently put it; no f-king duh” and they should be called out on it.
Well hell, 90% of WHITE women don’t have straight noses and angular bone structure.
This isn’t about race, it’s about a very narrow definition of what a ‘beautiful’ face is supposed to look like.
@Njeri
I am Somali. People of the Horn (that is – Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia) look very similar to one another. You seem to have a mistaken notion of what we look like and of our region in general. There is a difference between tribes and ethnic groups. People tend to assume they’re similar when they are not. Ethnic groups are groups of people that share the same ancestry, native language, and culture. Tribes are the same thing as clans – they are groups within an ethnic group that form divisions based on their recent ancestors (people from the same paternal great-great-grandfather in Somalia would form a sub-sub-clan of their own).
Ethiopia has over 80 ethnic groups and is the most diverse country in the Horn of Africa. While there are people there like the Nuer or Omo who differ from what one assumes all Ethiopians look like, the fact of the matter is that the majority of Ethiopians are Cushitic or Semitic (ie. Amhara, Tigray, Oromo, Somali, etc) and share similar features.
In Somalia, we are not mixed and some of us are very light and some are very dark. However, there are common features and narrow and straight noses, almond-shaped eyes. oval faces, tall and slim body types, and curly hair are most common in Somalia. Although there are some slight differences, this isn’t uncommon to see in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, depending on the ethnic group (as those countries are more diverse than Somalia).
You clearly do not know anything about the Horn so please do not speak out about a people – my people – when you are uninformed.
Didnt she stand by while her friends made racist and vile comments against her predecessor who gained weight?
Karen, expound please.
But please include the caveat that ALL racism is evil and that it must be resisted at all costs regardless of whether the beneficiary is deemed good or worthy. So it wouldnt even matter if she had been racist herself, those tweets would still be demented.
Now tell your story (fact checkers get ready)
Yes, that is the info that has been circulating for the past few days, actually that it was her making racist comments and saying outgoing Miss America is “fat as ****”. : http://jezebel.com/miss-new-york-accused-of-calling-outgoing-miss-america-1306743569
And I agree, the racist comments about her are horrible no matter what she said (or didn’t say). Makes me sad for humanity.
So saying mean things about someone’s weight is certainly mean… AND certainly not racist…
How totally disgusting, the ‘fat as f’ remark.
Mallory Hagan (Miss America 2013) is absolutely amazing. She has overcome adversity and used her time and past experiences to help others less fortunate than herself.
GO MALLORY!
I do think Nina is absolutely physically stunning and truly appreciate the crack in the glass ceiling made by her win. However, if she actually said that crap about MH, it does not seem she is blessed with much inner beauty . . .
I think its great she won, fantastic. But this article should remove Todd Starnes’ tweet as CNN and MSNBC already have retracted it as his tweet was 4 minutes before they announced her as winner and was directed at Miss Kansas herself and her service to the military, not to mention, wasn’t worded the way it is printed here. I think Starnes is brash and I’m no fan, but calling someone racist for tweeting what amounted to insulting “liberal” judges, in his mind thinking they’d never vote for a conservative woman before the actual vote took place nor knowing someone of any ethnicity won, is down right absurd.
jaysus…that IS depressing. and an indicator of how F*CKING STUPID some racists are.
ETA: DAAAAAYAAAAMMMM, what a figure on her!
++++++1
*How f—ing stupid ALL racists are.
Congrats to her, she is beautiful.
Those twitter comments are frightening in their ignorance.
+100000
She is beautiful. So according to Fox News being white and in the army is American but being Indian and going to Medical school is not? Shut up twats.
It wasn’t FOX NEWS it was one moron from FOX NEWS. There is always one jackass no matter what channel you watch. 🙁
Fox News must consist of an awful lot of channels, then.
@lucky charm
hahahah they have a TON of channels 😛
@alex: and a jackass in each one.
I think its great she won, fantastic. But this article should remove Todd Starnes’ tweet as CNN and MSNBC already have retracted it as his tweet was 4 minutes before they announced her as winner and was directed at Miss Kansas herself and her service to the military, not to mention, wasn’t worded the way it is printed here. I think Starnes is brash and I’m no fan, but calling someone racist for tweeting what amounted to insulting “liberal” judges, in his mind thinking they’d never vote for a conservative woman before the actual vote took place nor knowing someone of any ethnicity won, is down right absurd.
I would like to think most Americans do not feel this way! I know I don’t.
I’m not American (Arab Canadian here 🙂 ) but I can say that – based on my personal experience – most Americans that I’ve met are NOT like these ignorant douchewads.
Unfortunately, though, they’re the ones who get all the attention.
Thank you Lady- It is tiring as an American to always get blamed for the faults and ignorance of the few. Idiots, unfortunately, live all over the world. I wish Americans could be proud of themselves instead of putting the country down as a whole when something stupid happens
You’d be surprised. I am Indian American and born/raised in the US. I used to think the people who feel the way those on Twitter do are the minority in this country. But it was my own ignorance from living in big cities all my life. I guess the urban environment shielded me.
I’ve traveled throughout the US to visit friends from college, and most non-metropolitan areas I have been share this sentiment. You wouldn’t believe the looks I get, like I’m a pariah. So I’m not shocked or surprised. Just disheartened.
Sorry that has happened to you, but I live in a teeny tiny town in NY and I really think most people don’t care what color you are as long as you are a good person.
I’d like that to be true but it hasn’t always been my experience. Btw, what I said isn’t meant to be an attack on small towns, etc. More so just a description of my personal experience. I’ve been to several places that haven’t been like that which is why I qualifies my statement with the word “most.”
LB,
It hurts my heart, but I hear you. My bestie is Indian-American and I’m white. I think one of the reason she left our town is because she needed to be in a place that was more diverse (e.g less of an ass pit) and it kills me. The bottom 10% of the Bell Curve who actually know how to operate a Twitter account are not the majority, never will be. But their shocking, baseless foolf@@ckery will always garner more attention than the white folks who just love and live, ya know? Love and live, man.
Most Americans DON’T feel this way, which is why it’s really unfortunate that those Twitter comments are getting so much attention. This serves no purpose other than yet another attempt to racially divide the nation. When did we lose sight of the lesson we learned as children: “Don’t give them the attention they crave”?
This, 100%
No, it’s racists who “racially divide the nation”. Not people who call attention to racism.
I don’t agree, Drea. Those tweets did NOT need to become national news. They are comments that are obviously designed to shock and gain attention, so why help those people along by giving them what they crave? There’s no logic to this. There’s also no logic to allowing those tweets–and yet another national conversation about the negative aspects of race–to mar what *should* have been a celebratory moment.
Does racism exist? Yes. Should we fight it? YES. Does every single event in the country need to include a conversation about race? NO.
@Drea
I agree.
Congratulations to her. She’s gorgeous!
I know pregnancy hormones are making me super emotional but those tweets made me tear up. I don’t understand how people can be so ignorant.
Congrats on your pregnancy!
I just don’t get it. It seems with Obama as POTUS raging racists have crawled out of every cave in this country. HOW DARE THEY?!!!
Diversity is the centerpiece of the American dream however so many times you get the feeling that there are those in this country love the dream but hate the reality.
They feel that their own grip on the Dream is loosening because it is expanding and the fear and indignation over such a state of affairs makes them bold. Their belief is that the ascendence of minority groups of all stripes means their own downfall, not just from the privilege that they don’t acknowledge (and yet believe is being threatened), but also that their rightful place on top of the heap. Their heap is one comprised of crap, but they’re digging in. Let the equivocations begin. Congratulations to the winner and pray God I never speak about a beauty pageant again.
All of those comments are depressing but the most disgusting is the one posted by Todd Starnes, who claims to be a news reporter. One of the reasons you have so many misinformed idiots is because of where they get their so-called news.
Now you know why most of us New Yorkers proclaim Fox 5 News as the most racist news channel ever. As for the racial twitter comments, it just goes to show that ignorance is alive and well and living in the USA.
Congrats to Miss America, she is absolutely stunning.
+ 1…Fox News should be renamed Fixed News because most of their reports are obviously biased and fixed.
Faux News. There was a study recently that found that people who exclusively get their news from Faux News were more uninformed than people who don’t follow any news source whatsoever.
@ Emily C
Let’s have this study.
for Mrs. Peacock…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/fox-news-less-informed-new-study_n_1538914.html
to be fair, those who watched ONLY MSNBC also did poorly. But yes, what the poster said is true, according to the results of the study.
those who watch no TV news, or “The Daily Show”, were better informed than those who watched Fox “news”.
it’s when you watch a network that specifically leans one way or another that leads to being uninformed because those stations tailor their news to fit their viewers. basically, you’re having your view reinforced and you’re not hearing other views.
but, of course, there is the fact that Fox “news” outright reports falsehoods or, at least, perpetuate things that have been proven as false by other (reputable) news outlets. (Fox & Friends, and crap like that.)
@MrsPeacock – Here’s the study:
http://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5
Thanks!
Should help me procrastinate grading these quizzes just a little bit more.
To be honest, all news is biased and fixed. ALL.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/16/wont-believe-what-cnn-considers-racist/
Just so you know how uninformed you actually are while claiming those who watch or read fox are uninformed. I actually don’t watch it myself but if you don’t just shoot your mouth off by reading someone else’s comment and take a moment to research before making a claim, you might not come off looking like you have here…uninformed.
I think she’s beautiful and I loved her dance. That yellow dress looked fantastic on her. (don’t judge me I watched while SNF was on rain delay)
if you read any of the tweets, you’ll see the people are nothing but idiotic keyboard heroes and who really cares what they think..
It is horrible that there is racism and stupidity like this. However in other countries the winners kind of represent the what people look like where they come from or something, I never remember what the original idea for these contest was. In America is just even more obvious how unnecessary these contest are since America is so diverse that these winners are not really representing anything.
Well then it has never represented what people in this country look like.Since this country has always been diverse.When the contest began 1921 this country was diverse
Yes that what meant, it has never been accurate representation of American women and has never made any sense. Other countries however these contests seems at least a little bit more sense (but not much, beauty contest are really unnecessary in my opinion).
Chinoiserie:
The Miss America contest was originally whipped up in 1920 by Atlantic City businessmen to keep the tourists spending money on the Boardwalk past Labor Day. Non-white women were barred from competing, the “rule number seven”, said that “contestants must be of good health and of the white race”. No women of color competed until 1970.
The contest was racist from the beginning, and it’s a sorry state of affairs that racism is not being addressed as a grave matter of public education. I believe we as a country ought to be actively waging public campaigns to eradicate this ugly blight.
Why the fuc! do we have this sexist, stupid contest anymore? Get rid of it. I think the comments here just prove that racism is considered the Great American Problem, and sexism is just not even a word to most people. The whole beauty pageant thing is gross.
As much as I feel that a fair racial representation is vital in any aspect of a healthy, functioning society…I still think there’s a huge elephant in the room that most people ignore when it comes to these pageants, and it’s not race. It’s what these women actually LOOK like. The piles and piles of makeup, the plastic surgery, the breast enlargements, the fake-bake tans, and the hair styles that makes them look 10 years older than they are — all of that. I wonder why these phony standards of beauty are so prized or why if they aren’t prized, then why doesn’t anyone talk about it? I find the fake, over-done look of these women far more offensive than how many (or how few) races are represented. Because even if lots of minorities were featured in these shows every year THIS is how they would still all look.
+1 @ maureen. It’s super-conformism, as well as sexism.
Great comment, Maureen.
The artifice and self mutilation required to meet a twisted cultural standard of beauty is misogyny at it’s finest.
But look at all the comments here saying how stunning this Miss America is.
All these comments missing a fundamental issue of feminism: choice.
I think we should rejoice that American women have such implicit control over their own bodies (unlike in other cultures or times) that they may do as they wish with it.
One cannot argue for reporoductive rights (as an example) out of one side of your mouth and villify plastic surgery out of the other.
@Mrs. Peacock: You bring up a great point, and it reminds me of a conversation on another post.
A lot of times in discussions surrounding feminism, female celebrities, clothing, physical appearance, and women, we forget the all-important element of choice. When that happens, we end up shaming females for the choices they make regarding physical appearance and their bodies and implying that it can’t be that woman’s choice. “You’re a slave to the system, to the patriarchy” “She must be so insecure, she must have such low self-esteem,” “Girls only dress like that for male attention, to be sexy for the boys, to cater to male fantasies,” “she doesn’t have to do this. Look at this girl over here, she’s not doing that.” And if a woman or girl says she’s doing something because she likes it, or because it feels empowering or liberating to her, people will completely dismiss what she’s saying like she’s a child.
That’s really condescending and sexist, even though the people who say that don’t mean to be. It sends the message that females are to stupid to make their own decisions about physical appearance, that they’re not to be trusted when they say how they feel about it, and that the person doing the shaming knows that female’s intentions and motives better than she does herself.
Then the SAME EXACT WOMEN- the ones who were just calling out the woman who wears a lot of make-up, the young actress who took on the sexy movie role, the girl in the sexy outfit, or the person who was naked in vogue- will see Channing Tatum, Adam Levine, Ryan Gosling, Taylor Lautner, or some other male celeb in a sexy naked or half-naked photoshoot or in a sexy movie role, and they’ll go on about how hot he is. No shaming or cries of objectification there!
A female’s bodily autonomy applies to both her inside parts and her outside parts, and all the policing does nothing to combat the b.s. stereotypes about feminism. Shaming, policing, and double standards are best left to the patriarchy, not feminism.
And I’m realizing that my little rant isn’t necessarily about beauty pageants, it’s about my frustration about the lack of respect that exists in all elements of society for female ownership and autonomy of her own body and physical appearance.
What are these “American Values” that Fox News presenter is yapping about? Seriously, would someone list them for me. Because I struggle to see why some Americans think their values are so fundamentally different from the rest of the planet.
Fox News’ idea of American Values is Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Blond, ditzy, and thin
I didn’t have a problem with the guy saying “American values”. I have a problem with him suggesting that this Indian-American woman doesn’t have these American values. And we (the public) haven’t even met her yet, so we have no idea what her values are. It’s more disturbing that the Fox guy underhandedly referred to her as not having the acceptable American values.
Please do not take anything Fox news says as indicative of what all individuals in this country think. That network is divisive, inflammatory and racist.but to respond to your question: the phrase American values refers to a set of cultural and societal views that we prioritize as being admirable, worthy and desirable to embrace and aspire to. These values are common to hard working, intelligent and proud people all over the world and are not unique to this country, to be sure. But we call them American values because we often infuse these values with an enthusiastic and heartfelt dose of humor, colloquisms, viewpoints, observations, preference, acknowledgements, history and demographics that are unique to American life. It is like values plus or like world values that have been taken off the rack and tailored to fit.
I kind of think I am like the majority of Americans who feel that patriotism should never make you see other cultures as inferior, only different.i also have personally found that a lot of negativity and accusations of having a superiority complex have been tossed at Americans solely based on international news coverage and decisions made by our government. This is not very fair or accurate. Americans think for themselves.
The man who made that comment was a conservative, and fox is a conservative network. According to a lot of conservative public figures, right-wing people on the internet, and conservatives who write in one of my local newspaper, American Values= right-wing values.
And what are right-wing values? Religious intolerance, guns, sexual repression, paternalism, and the acceptance of racist commentary. Ha.
That’s what an ignorant slice of America thinks of Indian-Americans. What, I wonder, is “Egypt Dancing”? Or how did they arrive at that name? We need to invest in more education for some people, clearly.
Honestly, between these tweets and the video of elephants and rhinos with their faces hacked off (from the broadcast of “Prince William’s Passion” last night in the US), I’m just plain depressed by humanity’s general lack of awareness this morning.
But the “Egypt Dancing” tweet made me laugh, it was just so ridiculous.
She is gorgeous!
These people only make a poor figure of themselves. What about reading a bit before going on twitter with racist, prejudiced and ignorant sentences? Mainly, additionally to their despising racism, they show how little do they know about geography, politics, religion and culture. And is there a journalist from Fox News??!
“Journalist”? You mean, talking head. Also, Faux News is not news, just weird fearmongering propaganda…
Those tweets made my stomach hurt. I’ve always thought that mean and stupid was a dangerous combination. I’m not sure which is more embarrassing – the racism or the ignorance.
Congratulations to the new Miss America. She’s lovely.
And OF COURSE Fox News has to join the troll parade. News flash for them- I bet she’s not representative of the majority of Kansasans,much less the rest of the country.
She’s to be commended for her military service, and hope she gets into dental school( didn’t she want to do that? Already forgotten!)
Congrats to Miss NY.
She is absolutely gorgeous! I love that she’s darker skinned Indian as most Indian women I’ve worked with have complained about the light skinned bollywood look being so prevalent on TV.
twitter trolls don’t surprise me. If you look hard enough theres offensive everything on there.
I’m happy the miss Kansas didn’t win. I saw an article on her and she completely changed herself for this pageant into a bleach blond army barbie with fake orange tan and neon white teeth when this time last year she was a sweet looking brunette who happened to be in the national guard as well.
Agree. I judge pageants and the minute I saw Miss Kansas I couldn’t believe anybody allowed her on stage with that hair. Miss NY is lovely and deserving.
Did you see the Fox meltdown last November the night Obama was reelected? Epic.
Sorry. Double post.
I agree. She is actually probably “too dark” to be voted Miss India.
I thought about that, too.
LOVE IT.
Hahahahahhaha so glad she won. Amazing.
EAT IT all your racist haters!!!!!!
Wow those tweets are quite hateful and obnoxious.
Goes to show how ignorant some Americans are about other cultures. It’s totally stupid when people confuse a Hindu for a Muslim. Luckily in Canada people have understood the difference now.
There are unkind and stupid people everywhere. Even in Canada.
+ 1,000
Definitely – you can’t grow a brain by crossing a border. The world is full of stupid, ignorant, and mean people. It’s also full of awesome, loving, intelligent ones.
One of my good friends is a Canadian of Indian extraction and he and lots of his Muslim and Hindu friends have been targets of cruel and ignorant racist remarks. So not everyone in Canada gets it right either.
So are Catholics, White people, Jews, skinny people, fat people, poor people, and rich people. I could make a much longer list!
The fact is, people can be cruel. THE END.
those comments are very sad but not surprising. On another note, I wish Miss American would cease to exist. I truly don’t get its purpose. Please, someone, enlighten me.
I dont understand racism…
But I even less understand racism when it comes to american people. 90% of the population in the US is from immigration! I am sure that those bastards who wrote those comments have irish, italien, or french roots!
And they get all upset because she has indian roots? Come on!!!!!
I know! Unless you are 100% Native American, you have immigrant heritage as well. But I am not surprised there are some who don’t know that- these racist comments clearly show their stupidity.
yeah as a native american person this entire thing is ludicrous to me lol…EVERYONE SHOULD JUST GO HOME AND GIVE US BACK OUR LAND then maybe ill give a dayum (lol jk)
They know it, they’re just assholes.
That’s sad that people react this way. She is beautiful and loved her dance. Americans I swear keep getting uglier and uglier
An Irish-American dancing a jig would be “American” enough, but an Indian-American dancing Bollywood style is not? I hate people.
I wish she had been able to do a traditional Indian dance. The Bollywood thing was kinda silly. But a more traditional Indian dance would have made the haters go crazy, so she played this one right. Kindof like giving Anerica a vaccination instead of the real thing LOL
Ugh, people suck. I gave up reading comments most places because the anonymity is so empowering to the wrong people.
Anyway, this is America. It is diverse. They need to deal with it. Anyway, good on her! Beautiful girl. I hope she really becomes a doctor someday! That would be a serious role model.
You just have to laugh at the idiots who use Twitter and show how uneducated and truly moronic they really are. At least they are limited to what, 140 characters or something with which to show how stupid they are.
Congrats to the beauty queen. She is very pretty. Some of the hottest men I have seen were of Indian heritage or from India.
Idiots on Twitter and the internet spout off about everything and I do mean everything. Read Yahoo comments – the most pleasant or innocuous story will have it’s share of really mean posts. Sadly, there will always be an ignorant, mean-spirited portion of any given population who find validation in posting nasty comments online and on Twitter.
Yahoo story comments are the worst…I stopped reading them a while ago because they were just too upsetting. I support free speech and healthy discourse but it just got to be ridiculous after a while. I always hoped the Yahoo administrators would monitor their readers’ comments more thoroughly because some were truly disturbing.
I saw this story on the news this morning and just shook my head, it’s a sad world we live in and I feel the anonymity of the internet brings them out in droves. I personally try to keep my comments on the web to what I would say to my co-workers or friends in the real world, I believe these fools don’t have the nerve to do that without hiding behind a stupid moniker. Congrats to her, she’s beautiful.
Are we not all foreigners (with the exception of Native Americans). People really need to get with the program and understand that diversity is here to stay.
As we know, there are a lot of ignorant people out there. Nothing we can do about them, other than ignore them and pray that they get hit by a bus.
Anyhoo, the new Miss America is very pretty (and I secretly wish my stomach was as slim and tight as hers). Congrats to her on being the first one of Indian descent.
the stupidity on twitter has once again been spectacular
She is gorge!!! Twitter is almost as good as a white pointy hood for some of these cowardly @$$ holes. Spew their hate under a cover of anonymity cept for that fox news guy I guess he open and public with his crap.
I want to laugh at the idiocy and I am sure I will eventually – as soon as I exorcise the knot from my stomach.
Is this the woman who used to be chubby, lost 50 pounds then called Miss America fat? Calling Mallory fat as shit?
If so I don’t care how pretty she is on the outside she sounds like a nasty person on the inside.
Yes, I’m surprised this wasn’t mentioned until your comment! The racist comments are horrible and so depressing, but so was this girls comments about Mallory Hagan, that she’s “fat as ****”. She also allegedly made racist comments herself. It seems like her past weight loss has left her with a lot of insecurities. I was so surprised she won after the things she allegedly said came to light. If she did then it’s a shame she won. http://jezebel.com/miss-new-york-accused-of-calling-outgoing-miss-america-1306743569
I watched the show and Nina Davuluri was a standout all along. I am happy that this pageant has moved away from that beauty queen stereotype to embrace diversity. Now, please eliminate the bathing suit parade!
Dont assume all the people making racist comments were white. Some African Americans dislike Indians because they have a reputation for being racist against blacks, especially the Hindus. The Christians and Muslims seem to be tolerant. My sister works in a field where there are many Indians and despises them and refers to them as w*gs She wouldnt even go see ” Life of Pi” with me because the hero of the story is Indian. I told her I have met some Indians who were very nice and noti racist, but she refuses to listen.
Those racist wouldn’t even know that the chances of her winning the crown is higher than if she were white, look at past winners, its pretty diverse, and if it were Miss Universe she was competing in she would have an even higher chance of winning but these idiots don’t know this.
Dont assume all the people making racist comments were white. Some African Americans dislike Indians because they have a reputation for being racist against blacks, especially the Hindus. The Christians and Muslims seem to be more tolerant. My sister works in a field where there are many India. She despises them and refers to them as w*gs She wouldnt even go see ” Life of Pi” with me because the hero of the story is Indian. I told her I have met some Indians who were very nice and noti racist, but she refuses to listen.
Yeah Ok your sister is either very mad at an Indian she works with or is just very ignorant but lets be real we all know where the racist and mean comments came from. The same racist and mean people the comments always come from She is still a woman of color so for a black person to hate is really ridiculous.
sorry but the person in the next office is african american and said out loud that she didnt like indians because “they come here and treat us badly even though they are darker than us”
im not saying everyone feels this way, but there are prejudiced people in all groups
I have to agree wth you about. All the racists,bigots,homophobes,sexists and, I suspect, the mentally ill, are all on twitter. The same thing happened when Mark Anthony sang the national anthem. Racist tweets about him not being an American. There were a lot of “Why is this Mexican singing?”. It didn’t occur to them a Puerto Rican born and raised in New York could be an American. There are people that really don’t understand America is everybody including black and brown.
http://nbclatino.com/2013/07/17/baseball-fans-take-to-twitter-to-protest-marc-anthony-singing-god-bless-america/
Puerto Ricans are Americans whether they were born on the mainland or in Puerto Rico. It’s an American commonwealth and all Puerto Ricans have full American citizenship.
I think it’s safe to bet that those who wrote those tweets are probably failures in real life too…..
And some of these assholes probably think their ancestors were mayflowers LOL
Most of them can’t trace their ancestors that back far in the new world since many of them are from places such as Russia, Ireland,Italy etc. and their parents were poor immigrants.
They have the nerve to treat African Americans like second class citizens when these same African Americans probably have a mix of Mayflower, Africans slaves and native American ancestry.
Oh well, let them have fun pretending in their delusional heads.
My ancestors actually were on the Mayflower–i’ve traced my roots on both sides all the way back to very early immigration to this country, with only maybe five immigrants who came here in the last 400 years. So if that makes me worthy of being called a true American and gives me authority to decide who else meets the criteria, congrats to her! She’s an American. This super white, colonial-descent “true” american has spoken.
And I’m definitely not bragging. It’s not like its anything super amazing to celebrate. My ancestors only married other people of english descent. Yay.
Hehe, yeah. I am definitely not saying those with ancestors fro the mayflower are more American than anyone else, all I was saying is how ridiculous it is for so many to claim ‘mayflower’ when really, how many were on the damn boat anyway? 😉 And many racists actually can’t trace that back far yet brag about it as if they are “true” Americans. It’s pathetic really.
It’s the same type who romanticize gone with the wind era, antebellum, thinking they would be Scarlett when in reality only a few wealthy folks owned slaves and lived like Scarlett O’hara. Most would be dirt poor in rags and probably still back in Ireland [or insert other country].
No worries, a, i understood ypur meaning completely. I agree that it’s completely absurd. I certainly don’t consider myself more American than anybody else, if they identify as Indian-American or American only. I’m sure the creeps who think I am more American would be horrified i sullied all that “pure American” blood by marrying a first generation American and making two half Ashkenazi babies 🙂
I was curious about what Americans thought of redhead Canelo Alvarez not looking like the typical stereotype of his nationality and ended up reading at some crazy forum where they were classifyingmpeople by their particular features and deeming people who did not look 100,000% white like unfit to breed with them, like Canelo, who looks white, but certainly has a mestizo mix, and complaining that white people were not having enough babies to combat the mixing, It was crazy!!! there are some really deranged people out there.
Too bad that Internet brings them together.
And of course they had to drag Obama into it… 🙄
i read an interesting comment on the other site.
you know, a few months ago, an indian kid won the spelling bee 2013.
and there were no outbursts like this.
spelling bees and quizzes are “supposed” to be won by Indian and Chinese “geeks”.
Beauty pageants are “meant” to be won by beautiful people, i.e. – European-descendant Americans.
That’s the logic they apply.
People actually care who wins Miss America?
The racism is disturbing, sure, but how about the sexism? In this day and age, women parade down a runway in bikinis, to be judged on their physical attributes? The entire contest is a joke.
A contest they choose to enter. Of their own volition. Choice = the ultimate freedom. The ultimate equalizer. Sounds pretty fem to me.
God, people are depressingly awful.
Kaiser, true Americans don’t think that way.
There are a lot of mean, ignorant people. I hate social media for giving them a louder voice, but I also appreciate it for exposing them. There will always be work to be done to end discrimination as long as people like this exist and pass on their ignorance and hate to another generation.
On another note, I’d like to see the ‘Miss America’ contest done away with altogether, or at least the swimsuit portion. It’s a relic from another era. Prancing around on stage in a swimsuit and heels for a contest will always be stupid.
@ Maureen
And you should travel the world too cause you seem to think having blue eyes and blond hair is “boring” ? Lol, like, i see this time to time. people refering these recessive features as “boring”. sounds so smug. really smug. And throwing “exotic” to non-whites. haha. it’s white people’s recessive features (light hair,eyes) that’s exotic.
I agree. She is actually probably “too dark” to be voted Miss
India.
@ pretty
You don’t need to tell me how to judge my own features. If I say they’re boring that’s because they are. No need for a lecture from you.
And I have traveled the world. I love to travel and I love the world and I don’t GAF what people’s nose and lips and skin colors look like or what features are recessive or what percentage of the globe looks like what. I DO NOT CARE. I like, appreciate, and am interested in everyone just the same.
hmm..I think you should re-check the meaning of “exotic” again, and on your way read a bit more about genetics.
What is exotic for you, wherever you’re from, might not be exotic for me if I’m from somewhere else in the world. And eye color is one of the most complex genetic combinations(apart from the recessive components). Anyway, if you combine a genetic pool of 90% blue eyed people you will have a big probability of having blue eyed offspring (specially since their genes should code less diversity, given the recessive component). Go to a Scandinavian country and see how “exotic” a blue eyed blond is in there.
So, i’m an actual immigrant- moved from India to the states 12 years ago and I’m now an American citizen and I cannot help but say that I was rooting for Ms. Kansas all along.
Her whole resume is so empowering, she’s a trailblazer within the pageant industry and she’s in the armed forces!
Even as an indian woman I really couldn’t see what Duvuluri brought to the table in terms of achievements/life experience.
I guess it’s a big day for the Indian-American community as a whole but I would have loved to see Theresa Vail (Ms. Kansas) take it.
This.
I think people should like and root for whomever they like. Personally, I don’t watch these shows because the fake tans and makeup and bleached teeth and boob jobs really, really bother me. Indescribably. But no one should feel bad for who they root for.
Not only are the twitter comments horrible but they are stunningly moronic.
Reason #5664 that racists are idiots. If they wanted to take this winner down she gave them plenty of ammunition in mocking the previous winner as ‘fat as s**t’. So apparently she’s ugly on the inside and worthy of legitimate critisizm. But they went for irrelevant ethnicity. See? Racists are idiots.
she is beautiful ,she was poised ,gave an enntertaining performance and came across as an intelligent smart person,honestly ,what else do ppl want? who cares abt these slimey sleazeballs who r only brave enuff to comment behind internet ?do they even have 1/4 of her ability ,? can these nameless fake ids come out wow the audience with smthn intelligle ,no ofc not! its stupidity to pay these mindless ,nameless idiots any atttention ,nina u go girl!
Oh great. Now Indian women will buy into the crapfest that is pageantry, or at least that’s what they are hoping. Nothing more liberating than being judged on appearances, amirite?
You are right. Especially appearances that are totally and completely phony, like breast implants, nose jobs, fake-bake tan, and piles of makeup.
You are right there is NOTHING more liberating then being judged by how f-ckable you are.
+10000
You’re bloody well right, Kiddo.
As much as I try not to judge what a woman based on what she does with her body, in spite of myself, I haven’t reached a point where I can apply that thinking to the world of pageantry. For all of the legitimate criticisms associated with it, it’s not really any of my business what other women choose to do, I’m not being actively or specifically harmed and I am free to continue to never watch the shows…but I admit that I do judge the contestants almost as harshly as I do the circumstances that make this world possible. I’m not proud that I think it’s bottom of the bag trash or that the contestants are complicit in perpetuating the sexism that plagues us, but I somewhat shamefully want to retch and roll my eyes at the notion of someone getting enough money to school because she wins as ‘pretty’. I’m a narrowminded snob…but still! Right?
OMG, those twitter comments are horrendous. I am of North Indian decent, but born and raised in the UK…I am British 100% and now living in Canada. I am tired to being judged solely on my skin tone. What does the face of a Canadian, American, British person look like? Do these people know nothing of diversity? Indians are not Arabs either….People who wear Turbans are not Muslims, they are Sikhs btw, please know the difference before you walk into another one of our Gurdwaras and start shooting. The world need to know the difference! Pathetic.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is Indian and won Miss World in the 90’s….so I dont see what the problem is.
THIS! I was born and raised in Canada by Punjabi parents. The ignorance is those comments is very depressing.
Also to those people saying that with out her tan she would be white?? People need to realize that there are so many different types of people in India, we all don’t look the same. Northern Indian’s look different from Southern Indian’s.
Thank you fallen, I’m of Punjabi descent too, and it drives me crazy when ignorant people talk about “typical Indians.”
Good grief she has an amazing body.
Racists are always total idiots. Being that angry and hateful all the time must cause brain damage.
Didn’t watch the pageant, and admittedly don’t really care for them, but Nina Davuluri is gorgeous and I’m happy for her win!
Idiots will be idiots. Congratulations Ms. Davuluri!
I think the whole idea of a “Miss America” or Spain or India or whatever country is the most anachronistic and silly event in the world. At the end of the day, these women are relying pretty much solely on their looks. Oh they all want to save the planet or become doctors or psychologists or whatever, but parading around in a bikini still smacks of the outdated sexist attitude that in order to be Miss Whatever-the-Country you have to be hot, no matter what colour your skin is or how foreign your features are.
This is beautiful and amazing. I know sometimes it depressing Kaiser when people say dumb stuff like this I guess they never stop to consider that depsite the color of our skin this our country too and we consider ourselves first & foremost, Americans.
At its core, as I understand it, America was always supposed to stand for diversity and religious freedom. We were supposed to be a melting pot. Obviously slavery was a terrible deviation from America’s initial purpose, and it’s difficult for me to understand how anyone could ever have fought against the Civil Rights movement. But if anyone wants to invoke American values, they are NOT: Christian, gun-toting, white supremacist, Republican-voting, anti-government, anti-welfare, anti-science and anti-education. Those are perhaps redneck values, and represent an unfortunately large portion of America these days. But “America” is supposed to stand for cultural and religious diversity. Pageants are stupid, but I’m glad this girl won and perhaps jolted the idea into some heads that plenty of Americans aren’t white, but they’re still Americans.
They’re slaveowner values. America is still fighting the Civil War. Racial slavery is the curse in our soul that our founders knew existed, but left for their descendants to deal with. (Which is the main, though not only, reason that I get angry when people worship the founders and act as if the Constitution is a perfect dogmatic religious document.) Only Benjamin Franklin stood up and said that this HAD to stop, or it would kill the nation. And it did kill the nation. We were resurrected, but we’re still not doing so well.
@ NerdMomma,
I guess I kind of get the intention of your comment, but you have some factual errors. Slave culture was an intrinsic part of America’s “original purpose.” You’re right, pilgrims themselves didn’t own slaves, but slavery was a foundational economic element that was purposefully ommitted from the Constitution to ensure it would be ratified by both slave- and non-slave-based regions. While we are on the subject of America’s “original purpose,” it actually WAS founded upon Christian ideals and principles, and gun-toting was a damn near requirement. American values may have changed (god, I hope we are not anti-science…scary), but the foundation of America is actually exactly the things you enumerated.
BTW I am neither Christian nor slave-owning, nor do I plan to become either.
Actually, Spain was the original one to travel to Africa and use them as slaves. Hi AP US History.
PLEASE don’t tell me the majority of America thinks this way. Good Lord at the ignorance!!! :((((
This is a really beautiful girl ….BUT and this is a big but to me….she fits perfectly into the “Barbie Doll ” cookie cutter image the media and entertainment fields push down the public s throat every day as to what beauty is…..Same look, same style , etc look at all the contestants…they are were cookie cutter molds in different coloring of each other….were there any small girls , plump girls . girls with short hair, girls with small boobs…..No …there never is…they are all interchangeable ….to be in the contest in the first place you have to meet the criteria they set…its a joke really…..one of the most beautiful girls in the world that I every saw was standing on a stool because she was so short and plump so she could reach a dying old man on a bed at the VA hospital…She was holding his hand as he eased out of this world giving him comfort and love as he had no one else to be with him… Her plain dark brown hair was pulled back in a clip and her hazel eyes red and weary from the end of her 12 hour shift…but she shined like a star in the night sky….That is Miss America…..
Gosh…what a touching story!! Thanks for sharing that 🙂
Thank you for sharing this story.
I am white woman (Canadian) those comments on twitter were from a some dumb ass backwards people. Ignore them. Hopefully they are a dying breed.
I usually don’t care about these beauty pageants at all, but those tweets just make me sick.
There will always be part of every population of every country that fails to understand diversity and how it enriches society. It’s not just the United States, it’s every country I’ve ever been to, and I have traveled extensively.
Mexican here? I have been to tiny small towns in Northern AK with friends who are “dark” Mexicans (I do not look like the stereotype ), and we did not encounter racists, even when our American (Californian) friends were concerned about the Southern divisionist flag hanging out of some homes, we went everywhere we could and did not find racism.
On the other hand, the standars of beauty pushed by the Miss Universe contest are clearly out of reality.
Shorter, heavier women cannot win that pageant, and of course the faces and the bodies tend to be the same thanks to surgery. And ghe heavy makeup is too much, I think that nowadays the participants are too slim and wiry, I like the days when the contestants looked softer, less like athletes.
In my country, in the Mexican contest, girls with lighter hair and coloring are dismissed in favor of girls with long dark hair and medium skin, darker eyes, like Ximena Navarrete or Lupita Jones, in fact Lupita Jones (ex missuniverse is the director of the pageant and dictates these criteria to our country. Snce she is directing, not a girl with lighter coloring has won, and if they have curly hair, they probably straighten that out to Look standard.
In regards to skin color, and her being Indian, I understand that there are lots and lots of people with fine features in India and neighboring countries, and in Africa (which is a diverse continent) there are people who look different and with very different looks, including body type. That would make the women who are tall, slim and fine featured to easily fit into the Miss Universe beauty standards. I understand that there are differences in India too, the Northern usually look different from people in the South, if I am not msitaken.
I randomly met a couple with two children from Eritrea in Germany a few years ago, they both were beautiful, and the lady could have easily been a model.
Changing Trump’s beauty standards is not an easy thing. Good that a pretty woman from a diff. Ethnicity won, the difference should be in the intelligence, not only in The looks.
Are you saying that shorter more fuller figured women also deserve scholarships? Sigh I suppose. Isn’t it enough that in the real world the curvy petite girls have all the fun? 😉
Of course maybe you noticed that English is not my first language. What I said is that Trump’s contest is made a certain way and it is not fair for other body types than tall and lean. Some ethnic groups will participate easily with those standards and other are ignored, but it is a c*appy contest anyway.
And in my country there is reverse racism in that contest, preferring to show an stylized taller view of stereotyped nationals when there are lots of different colorings and beautiful women of different looks, but the organizers want the world to see something that they expect, maybe like if England would choose only blue eyed lighter women, or something like that.
About what you said about scholarshisp I have no idea what you mean. Maybe you could clarify?
Sorry, I was joking. It’s absurd to judge scholarly potential on the basis of physical appearance but that’s what these pageants pretend to do. I still think being a petite curvy girl ROCKS tho and Donald can’t take that away.
Hahaha! Agree! And chubby ones Rock too!!! ;).
remember how he treated a Venezuelan Miss Universe who gained weight? He put her to do crunches in front of journalists and photographers!! The nerve of that ugly (inside and out) man!
There’s a lot of ignorant idiots out there, but it never fails to amaze me. The Fox guy’s tweet was kind of shocking about why Kansas didn’t get it. “The liberal Miss America judges won’t say this – but Miss Kansas lost because she actually represented American values. #missamerica.” – Todd Starnes, host of Fox News. Idiot. My neighbors are Indian and they are Republican. I guess he doesn’t think anyone but whites can be conservatives.
Let’s see, an American, Miss NY got it, a woman who is not only beautiful but studying to be doctor. Yet that can’t be the reason she won and not Miss Kansas. And, by the way, what are American values? Is he saying Miss New York doesn’t have American values?
He’s saying Miss New York doesn’t look American. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
Where did he say that? I didn’t see it.
Those Twitter posts are horrible. In contrast is the video that’s been making the rounds lately – it shows a US soldier standing up for a cashier when a customer makes anti-muslim comments. The soldier’s words are perfect.
http://www.upworthy.com/a-boy-makes-anti-muslim-comments-in-front-of-an-american-soldier-the-soldiers-reply-priceless
Google it if the link doesn’t work, it’s a beautiful response to ignorance & racism.
That little boy has an amazing voice,and while his heritage is Mexican, he is American. We share a common history and quite afew more things as neighboring countries.mhow sad that racism and prejudice wins the media so much.
I’m not surprised by the lunatic outburst. Read the comments on nearly any story in the Yahoo “news” section if you really want to get depressed. Also, I live in a major metropolitan city and have heard unbelievable stupidity while standing in line at CVS. There are a lot of racists out there.
Racism aside, I am utterly confused why no one has commented on the gem of a name amongst the runner up list:
Myrrhanda Jones
What in the hell???
Wow, that is so so sad. The people in my life are so accepting of other cultures and races that sometimes I forget that this level of ignorance and racism still exists in the world. One thing I’ve always thought about is that I was born me, a blonde haired, blue eyed white girl, but I just as easily could have been born another race in another country and had a totally different life. Once you think of things like that you don’t look down on anyone, because you realize everyone is really the same as you. We’re all just trying to make it in the world. Education about other cultures is the only way to stop this sad ignorance.
As soon as I saw her
Bollywood dance I wanted her to win. Wow, she is goegeous, smart and talented, as all those girls are. I wish her the best and I hope that the idiots making such stupid comments will learn something. They probably won’t but we can hope, I guess.
Stupidity is really an insidious disease. Those comments would have been disgusting even if she were a Muslim of Semetic ancestry, but to publicize your absolute ignorance of the world like that … Take note pageant producers that this is your demographic.
She’s incredibly beautiful and I’m very impressed that she’s using her winning to go to medical school.
Still makes me sad though that there are “competitions” in this day and age that judge a woman by how she looks in a bikini :(.
I wish I would have known she was on. I’m obsessed with anything India.
I’m not surprised. You see similar comments about Latin people, like that little boy that made the news recently. That we all must be Mexican (because there’s no other Latin country), drug mules/pushers, border-hoppers, illegals, etc.
I used to work front desk at a hotel. I had an immigrations official check in once asking for the government rate. I verified his gov’t employee status with ID, then proceeded to check him in. All of a sudden he started yelling at me, saying that if he had to prove he was a gov’t employee, then I should prove I was a citizen because I “didn’t look like one”. Over and over again he accused me of being illegal, threatening and stressing that he worked in immigrations and demanding I show him my “papers” to prove my status. I was too stunned to do anything but hand him his room keys and wish him a nice stay. When he left, I had to excuse myself to go to the back room and cry. This happened in upstate NY.
Racism is very real.
Claudia, that is awful! Hugs to you!
On of my favorite things about our country is our diversity. That means we have so many types of people to learn from! I see diversity as a strength, and my life is better for the variety of people I have known. I am so sorry that someone treated you like that, much less that they work for our government.
You should have reported him to the department he works for.
(P.S.) That was meant for Claudia, not Tiffany.)
Thanks Tiffany, I really appreciate that 🙂
Janet– You’re right. To this day, I still feel a lot of shame about what I didn’t say and what I didn’t do.
She is gorgeous, congratulations to her!
I think 50k for a scholarship would be wonderful to have…but that isn’t going to put much of a dent in the education required of a doctor! Maybe they should update the prize too?
I hope that the people who made those racist comments are exposed. I hope their employers are notified and I hope they lose their jobs.
Those comments and tweets are disgusting. I truly hope that the majority of Americans don’t really feel that way.
“Egypt dancing” Haaaa… jesus.
WTF??! “Miss 7-11” REALLY? Holy crap! I’m proudly 4th generation American myself but that statement makes me cringe! The blatant ridiculous arrogance and ignorance!
The level of ignorance on this page leaves me with an immediate reaction that can only be summed up as, “Gaaaaaaaaah!!!”
I wonder if these “real” Americans even realise how offended Indians feel when they get mistaken for Muslims (I’ve had many Indian friends in my life, and that was a major source of irritation for them)
“Indians mistaken for Muslims”? Apples and oranges. Indian is a nationality; Islam is a religion.
Newsflash: you can be both Indian and Muslim at the same time, and many Indians are. It’s the second largest religious group in India, after Hindus.
Hahaha finally, someone!
Ladies, yes, choosing to express your sexuality in such a way that you conform to unrealistic standards intended to subjugate women is a “choice.” It’s a choice that makes you complicit in your own second class status, though, so please stop comparing it to semantically similar “choices” that enable women to control their lives as well rounded humans with intellectual abilities.
*clap clap*
She’s gorgeous! Congrats!
This is the 21st century and you’d think that racism is in the past but unfortunately that plague is still around. Sad.
In a scene straight out of “Miss Congeniality,” unfortunately for Davuluri — who nicknamed herself “Miss Diversity” — a fellow beauty queen was in the next room and recorded the comments, along with other allegedly offensive remarks made by others.
A source tells us: “Davuluri invited friends back to her hotel room after her win. A girl in the next room overheard their conversation, and was so offended she decided to tape part of it. A friend of Davuluri was supposedly heard making racist remarks, and Davuluri is allegedly heard on the tape blasting Miss America, ‘Mallory’s fat as [bleep].’ The recording has been making the rounds of pageant contestants and officials.” The source added, “Her comments were brought to the board of the Miss America pageant.” Pageant organizers deny that Davuluri did anything wrong.
How did they recorded her from another room? Wouldn’t the voices be muffled by the walls so how was it clear enough for them to know it was her who said those if the person recording it was in another room?
Did this person have so type of special equipment to clearly hear want was being said and by whom in the next room.
That whole thing smells very fishy like a setup.
She’s gorgeous and those comments are utterly ridiculous and horrible.
Racism is alive and well and living in America.
I don’t care. But I will share my 2 cents of wisdom, she won’t win the Miss Universe. Moving on with my life, thanks.
SO? She won Miss USA , something none of us have or will accomplish.
Here is a much, much more natural picture of the new Miss America. God, she looks sooooooo much prettier and youthful and charming without all that crap they put on her. Her skin is gorgeous and so is her hair and I want her earrings.
http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2953413/miss-america-nina-davuluri-dips-in-atlantic-ocean-after-win-01/
I would say “slightly more natural”, she still have full makeup on these pix.
She does, but at least we can see her eyes.
Some people on the Internet are racists and stupids, the big news…
Urgh, I hate those pageants, this is so kitsch it’s hurt the eyes.
Jesus take the wheel. Do all these racists want her to go back where she came from–Syracuse, N.Y?
@Leila in Wunderland. Excellent, excellent post!
Thank you ladies for all of the thoughtful, intelligent points raised above.
Escapism truly can be smart!
The only thing I will say is that mixed in with the truly racist drivel that appears on Twitter, there is also a lot of trolling by people who like to say the most ridiculously absurd and racist stuff just to get a rise out of people. It’s in as bad taste as the racist stuff but just saying, take some with a grain of salt, like the one “When will a white woman win Miss America?” Clearly that was a joke and shouldn’t be included in this list.
Exactly. And these trolls win every time when their stupid tweets are plastered across national news.
lol I thought the same thing about that “When will a white woman win” quote. That person could not have been serious
She’s beautiful. I’ll take her over Kartrashian ANY DAY AND SECOND.
People are complete idiots and no one asked them, anyway. Go, Miss America!! And a pre-med student, too.
Kaiser, unfortunately this IS what a good number of ignorant Americans think of Indian Americans. But what do you expect from idiots who probably still think the world is flat and that when you venture off American soil you fall off the earth and tumble into space. My daughter dated an American-Indian man, born in the States, for a number of years. The prejudices they experienced on a daily basis were horrifying. Even some of her own friends made judgements about why she wasn’t with a “white guy”. I’m consistently embarrassed by these sorts of people. My only hope is that their income and chances for success in life are as limited as their ability to understand that a big, wide world exists beyond their Kentucky Friend Chicken bellies.
This is just so wrong. A – she’s a beautiful American woman of Indian descent, she deserves to win; B – Indians are the closest relatives of Europeans both ethnically and linguistically, both origination from Sarmatia north of the Black Sea – hence the term “Indo-European” which also encompasses the “Indo-Iranians” (yes – Iranians are basically white/Caucasian, not Arab) – so this just shows historical and ethnographic ignorance; and C – so racist and just plain dumb.
Chris, Arabs are also white/Caucasians.
I double-dog dare you to put your photo up against hers.
She’s not just some dumb contestant. This woman has a bright future ahead of her. The people twittering their racist hate are probably pimpled teens and folks sitting in their moms/dads homes. She can keep her head up because she has already accomplished a lot. The racist dunderheads will probably accomplish nothing except talking shait about other people success.
To hell with the racists, just give me this woman’s WORKOUT AND DIET
For what this is worth, not all people think of Indian-Americans the way these narrow-minded pieces of trash do. I am Irish-American. I have beautiful biracial children, and friends of all different races. The only time I even think about the race of my friends and family is when I think of all the people in my life you would be hurt by these comments. It breaks my heart. Unfortunately, the most ignorant voices are usually the loudest, and hate will only get power when it gets noticed. Go on with your day, look in the mirror and be proud of who you are. Race doesn’t define you, and ignorance and hate sure as hell don’t either. Cheesy post, but this kind of talk really effects me and I hate to think people are hurting because of this disgusting racism.
The racist idiots are so angry because 3 out of 5 finalists are Asian descent!
We’re all beautiful and we’re all part of each other… http://www.photoxels.com/images/Fun/average-face-580.jpg That’s what you get when you average all the faces of women from a country.
God those people sound so moronic it’s painful. Seriously, I hate that these idiots can just spew their ignorance on the internet and make the rest of us look bad. I can’t believe that any of these people would post that kind of stuff on an account that is linked to their real life, like they don’t care that people know they’re that stupid and ignorant. People like this need shock collars that react to their stupidity, because this kind of stupidity should be painful.
I am a proud New Yorker who now lives in Canada (Toronto, where immigrants make up 50%+ of the population). It is refreshing to live in a city where everyone is a different nationality. I lived in a small town in NY and small city in NC where racism flourished. I had friends in NC who when they heard a black friend was coming over, had to leave since they couldn’t be in the mere presence of a African American person (mind you the county we were living in was 65% African American to boot!!!)
I also have mixed race friends (she is white, he is African American) who got unspeakable racism to them in Columbia SC, where they moved to for a year and then quickly moved back to NY. they were given separate checks in restaurants because they didn’t want a black man paying for a white woman (mind you they are married).
Don’t think its a few ignorant people. Any place in the US where it is predominantly white and/or predominantly black in the south, there seems to be loads of racism from my experiences. Until people are exposed to other nationalities and different skin colors on a regular basis, this attitude shall prevail. There is a group of people who want to keep America “pure” and “white”. This is why I feel better in Toronto. I know there are racist people up here in rural areas too, but I prefer to avoid rural areas at all costs because this is where racism dominates.
This is sad. America is not just one (white) race. It does not matter what this woman has accomplised, all they can see is her skin color/culture that is different from their own. And what’s funny is that they can even get the specifics of her race and religion correct. Idiots!
The comments on this thread make me sad. I’m mixed–don’t know if she is, but the principle is the same. No matter what you look like, you’re never enough. You’re never white enough. You’re never ethnic enough.
I’m tired of none of us–ever–being enough.