Miss America reflecting America?

Nina Devuluri

WELL, I'M A LITTLE LATE on this bit of news, but a new Miss America was chosen last week: Kira Kazantsev of New York.

Sorry, I don't normally watch that contest. I haven't watched it since I used watch with my parents when I was in grade school. It was a good bonding experience with my parents but little did I know then, the values and standards it perpetuated.

I only mention this because the contest also marked the end of the reign of Miss America 2013, Nina Devuluri, also from New York. When Miss Devuluri was picked, she became the first Miss America of Asian Indian descent. Her selection sparked a lot of hate Tweets from racists.

The media outlets were so excited over her selection that some of them headlined their stories, "First Asian American picked as Miss America" - major faux pas.

Angela Perez Baraquio

Actually, the first Asian American Miss America was a Filipina-American P.E. teacher from Hawaii. Angela Perez Baraquio was chosen in 2001 to be the standard-bearer of American beauty.

When Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, won the contest in 1984, there was a lot of hatred directed at her too but not the intensity faced by Kira. That was before Twitter and Facebook.

Unfortunately, the Internet's social media platforms have provided a means for all the bigots to instantly air their prejudices and display their ignorance.

Critics of the contest have called the pageants for Miss America and Miss USA as demeaning to women, but that's a topic of another posting. To the credit of the organizers of Miss America, they've allowed the image of America's women to represent womanhood  in all its diversity. 

Small steps, I know, but together with more diversity in print and TV commercials and more minorities in the fall TV schedule, they all have an impact on the countless young people of our country whose concept of what and who is beautiful no longer is limited to European descendants and now expands to include people of color.

Hopefully, we're moving towards a day when when a minority wins a pageant it no longer makes headlines as a "first." Eliminating the hate and ignorance, though, will take a bit more longer.

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