4.2
September 16, 2013

Already the Racist Tweets are…Trickling? ~ Michelle Marchildon

Here she is: Miss America.

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It’s only been a few hours since the first Miss America of Indian descent was crowned, and already the racist tweets are flowing.

Well, actually, if anyone cares to dig deeper, the racist tweets are trickling.

I used the word “trickling” because it had alliteration. I’ve just spent the last five minutes reading more than 5,000 tweets and I could only find two that were questionably racist. Those were from someone named “Princess” in Kansas, who was upset that her friend, Miss Kansas, did not win.

The tweet I read said something like America was afraid to elect a “real Miss America” who, you know, shoots arrows and guns, and has the serenity prayer tattooed on her torso.

So, just to be clear, I don’t care at all about the color of a person’s skin. But as a mom, I’m hoping that the person my son brings home to marry someday does not come from Kansas. Not that there’s anything wrong with Kansas…. but we happen to believe in evolution.

Kansas has made some very real progress lately. In June, 2013, Kansas legally allowed schools to teach the theory of evolution. Because up til now, the only science allowed to be taught in Kansas of how humans came into existence was the big non-bang theory, and that would be Adam and Eve.

Since Kansas barely recognizes evolution, don’t even bother to search its history on LGBT Rights.

So, if a racist tweet came out of Kansas, I’m of the mind to forgive it. “Princess” is having a very bad day. She will probably go out and shoot a deer or a duck or a chipmunk to let off steam.

Her reaction in turn, and the reaction of a few others who thought Miss America was not “American,” showed that thousands more Twitterers are supportive of the new Miss America. There are probably millions more who support her who did not tweet about it, if there are still a million people not on Twitter.

I am actually encouraged by this whole tempest in a pageant, because I think it will galvanize Americans into accepting that we come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

So you go, Nina Davuluri, Miss America, and when you visit I will cheer you on, even though you robbed Miss Colorado of the crown.

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Ed: Sara Crolick

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