The story on this site should have been that four five Asian American/Pacific Islander contestants graced the stage in Atlantic City and that three of them placed in the Top 5: Nina Davuluri of New York was crowned Miss America, Crystal Lee of California was first runner up, and Rebecca Yeh of Minnesota landed in the Top 5.
Or the story could have simply been that Nina Davuluri is the first Miss America of Indian American descent, which in itself is historic. Her pageant platform– whatever that is– was “celebrating diversity through cultural competency.”
Instead, the story on this site is the disgusting racist tweets which were published and retweeted by various Americans. Some of the tweets implied that Davuluri is not an American. Others called her a Muslim, a terrorist, or referred to her in typically racist terms such as “Miss 7-11.”
This angle was covered by CNN, PublicShaming, The Atlantic Wire, and other outlets.
In responding to questions about the racist tweets, according to ABC News, Davuluri answered, “I have to rise above that,” she said. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
(Fun Fact: Angela Perez Baraquio of Hawaii was the first Asian American and the first teacher to become Miss America in 2001.)
UPDATE 9/16/2013: An earlier version of this post stated there were four APA contestants. There were actually five: Crystal Lee (California), Bindhu Pamarthi (District of Columbia)Crystal Lee (Hawaii), Nina Davuluri (New York), and Rebecca Yeh (Minnesota).
Photos courtesy: Miss America Organization
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