For a country full of peroxide blondes, Nina Davuluri is not ‘˜American’ enough. Despite her being as USA-bred as the perozides in question.
For a country full of peroxide blondes and light-eyed women, an olive-skinned Miss America is not ‘American’ enough. Despite her being as USA-bred as the perozides in question. Yes, we are referring to the recently crowned Miss America Nina Davuluri, whose exotic chocolate meets honey shade is creating a hell of a buzz. But not the way she expected it to. The 24-year-old, who was born in Syracuse, New York and has lived all her life in the US, is being called a Muslim, an Arab, a terrorist, Miss Al Qaida and so on… for being coloured.
When the Indian-origin girl walked away with the crown, America reacted strongly to her win by Tweeting out such gems like, “Is Miss America even American?,” , among many others. May be these people have never read their own constitution. Anybody born in the USA is an American with the same rights, laws and facilities as others. They are called natural-born Americans and Nina is one. So the whole outburst regarding her win is both shameful and ugly. It’s far worse than the black vs white debate. When will the Americans rise above the colour issue?
If USA is the land of opportunities, why are such racist Tweets being thrown around? When the land has seen many Asian and Latino women win this title before, why this hue and cry now? Does having a skin tone a tinge darker make Nina any less American than her pale-shaded counterparts? This is coming from a country whose President is black. Wow! The hot dog-munching, baseball-playing and generally being stupid Americans haven’t learned anything at all. If they think all Indians or Asians are Muslims or terrorists, there is nobody dumber than them. It’s not that we can’t indulge in some stereotyping, but we won’t. Because Indians have something called as culture, which these firangs sorely lack in.
When the Telugu girl has herself said, “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American,” why is so much muck being slung about? The aspiring cardiologist was gracious enough to say that ‘she will have rise above that’ (referring to the Twitter backlash). But why don’t people understand that if she goes onto win the Miss Universe 2013 title, she will be bringing it to the USA and not India. Do you hear that, Americans? Or perhaps, English has never been one of your strongest languages? May be we should take to Twitter too…but we won’t. Remember, culture?
If a country judges a woman on her color, even when their President is black, it makes us wonder how they are called as a superpower! What ‘belonging’ to a place really is? These are some of the questions we would never find answers to. But let’s not take away from Nina’s epic win. Let the beauty queen enjoy her limelight and we hope she proves her worth through actions and not words. I would probably be cheering for Miss America when she competes against Miss India in the Miss Universe pageant. Because Nina has a point to prove and I hope she does it in typical Bollywood style! Congrats, Nina! Show them whites how it’s done.
