Last week, Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America —she is the first Indian-American to receive the title. As soon as she won, the racist tweets started rolling in. Buzzfeed published a few comments in a post titled “A lot of people are very upset that an Indian-American woman won the Miss American Pageant.” Reading the Buzzfeed page disappointed me as an American, and as a fellow minority — felt like a slap in the face.
Some of the many derogatory tweets were:
•“Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11.”
• “#MissAmerica umm wtf?! Have we forgotten 9/11?”
• “I swear I’m not racist but this is America.”
Many of the Twitter users Buzzfeed exposed deactivated or deleted their accounts.
In response to the racist comments Davuluri told The Associated Press, “I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America…I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
I believe that Nina Davuluri is an inspiration for minorities. America isn’t just one culture. The backbone of America is its immigrants. This shouldn’t just be evident in a U.S. Census. It should also be evident in idolized role models, such as Miss America.
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