The Miss America pageant has crowned their first winner from an Indian background –Yay! In her first press conference Nina Davuluri – an aspiring doctor says, "I'm so happy this organization has embraced diversity."

Unfortunately, within minutes of winning the coveted title, people decided that Nina was not American simply because she comes from Indian DESCENT. Nina Davuluri, born and raised in Syracuse, NY is being accused of being un-American because of her skin colour. It’s funny, because the same people who took to social media to put down Nina, and say that Miss Kansas should have won because she “has tattoos” is a “real country girl…and not an Indian immigrant!” are the same ones who fail to realize who the “real” Americans are. This simple-minded person went on to say “It’s America, not foreign America!”

I have spent a large amount of my day reading through the comments on twitter, Facebook and Tumblr about this topic and it truly saddens me to see that people still believe that someone’s skin colour can stop them from doing anything. Surprisingly, the people saying that Nina Davuluri shouldn’t have won we’re all white people – shocker. In no way am I saying that all white people are like this, it is just extremely tiring and annoying having a small amount of people diminish the image of such a large group of outwardly awesome people.  To the white people who are cheering for Nina – cheers to you, and I thank you. To the people who are disappointed by the un-americanness of Nina, I encourage you to look back on your history and remind yourselves that “real” American’s we’re the Cherokee, Navajo, Anishinaabe, Blackfoot and many more groups that were killed off in the masses by the smallpox that your European ancestors brought to the United States.

Again, I am fully aware of the fact that an enormous amount of white American’s are against racism and completely happy for Nina. I just wish that people would stop being so narrow minded and remember that America is a country that was made on the backs of many different ethnicities. Therefore everyone should be able to embrace the differences that everyone has in order to create a better, stronger and more powerful America.

Sincerely,

Melanie-Brooke M.

A Canadian. 

Thankfully and surprisingly, Miss Kansas has taken the high road and is supporting Nina!