I am going to preface this saying that I do not
watch Miss America, nor I have I ever chosen to watch the pageant. From what I
have seen through my research (i.e. Facebook and Buzzfeed), I discovered that
an Indian-American woman won the Miss America Pageant! Although I do not necessarily
support the Miss America Pageant, I thought this was an incredible step in our
society and very refreshing to see a woman that is not white and that does not
have platinum blonde hair win the pageant. Miss
New York winning reminded me a lot of the novel "Beauty Queens",
which I discussed in class, and how women of a minority group are so oppressed
as "the other" when it comes to these pageants! I am happy
that such a phenomenal book written only a year ago was able to already be proven
wrong with a woman of color becoming Miss America!
...and then I stumbled upon this article on BuzzFeed. I actually almost laughed aloud because I thought it was a joke. And it makes me sick to think that OUR GENERATION is the one that is making these terrible remarks. And several of these remarks coming from young women nonetheless. I think this is a perfect example of why public education is necessary in order to teach individuals about racism and “Americanism” and why what they are saying is completely ignorant and ridiculous. We also are seeing an obvious divide in groups of women. We have these women on Twitter actually saying, “This is America. Not India” and “Miss America is a terrorist. Whatever. It’s fine.” Really? REALLY? This is ridiculous. And the fact that they compare Miss New York to a terrorist is one of the most offensive things I have ever heard.
...and then I stumbled upon this article on BuzzFeed. I actually almost laughed aloud because I thought it was a joke. And it makes me sick to think that OUR GENERATION is the one that is making these terrible remarks. And several of these remarks coming from young women nonetheless. I think this is a perfect example of why public education is necessary in order to teach individuals about racism and “Americanism” and why what they are saying is completely ignorant and ridiculous. We also are seeing an obvious divide in groups of women. We have these women on Twitter actually saying, “This is America. Not India” and “Miss America is a terrorist. Whatever. It’s fine.” Really? REALLY? This is ridiculous. And the fact that they compare Miss New York to a terrorist is one of the most offensive things I have ever heard.
I also have to point out the
quantity of tweets from MEN. Let’s be real; how many men would actually admit to watching Miss America if it did not spark this much controversy?
I would love to hear how all of you
feel about all of these degrading remarks about Miss New York and about Indian-Americans
in general. Do we need to start educating our generation and future generations
about these racial remarks? Do we need to introduce them and open them up to
cultural diversity more than we do now? How can we address such a terrible
issue like this one? I know not everyone in our generation thinks this way, but
it absolutely terrifies me that we still have people that do…
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ReplyDeleteKirstin, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! I was about to post it and GO OFF, but I'm glad you have already done that and posed a question in a much more articulate way than I was going to...
ReplyDeleteI actually cried when I saw the Buzzfeed article. Just when I think that I am beating a dead horse with diversity awareness and inclusion in all aspects of society, this shit comes up. I did notice that a lot of the most ignorant and offensive tweets were from men. It's a repeat of the whole Sebastian De LaCruz thing during the NBA Finals. People were taking to Twitter sayings "What's this little beaner singing OUR National Anthem for?" Followed by the not surprising "THIS IS AMURICA, DADGUMMIT!"
I was saddened and disheartened when I saw the article, and especially at the photo circulating of Miss Kansas in an army fatigues, her hunting, her in a bikini (with lots of tats) and her with her sparkling blonde hair and pink dress.. Claiming she's a "REAL" American woman! We have so much work to do in the arena of social justice, racial justice and solidarity in American society. What bothers me is that the people that took to Twitter about Miss America are probably the same people who believe we live in a "post-racial society" because our schools are desegragated and there is (argueably) no more Jim Crow South.. This just speaks volumes to me in that the issue of race is still very black vs white. A "good argument" for saying we live in a post-racial society for those in their ignorance, is "well I have a black friend, I'm not a racist". This whole dilemma is all based on the very human nature to "other" people. To dehumanize them because it's always better to not be on the bottom of the social status totem pole.. Ugh I can't even speak intelligently anymore so I am going to stop. I am not sorry for ranting.
These tweets made me really sad. It sucks that for America the view of not only what beauty looks like but what an american woman looks like only includes blonde white women.
ReplyDelete