Hellobee Boards

@Mrsbells: yeah, it's a shame there is a such bigotry. America has been diverse since the beginning of the country.

A note about the frivolous nature of pageants, I loved her yellow gown. It made me happy

Wow, some people suck. Shame on them! I'm proud that the Miss America pageant is embracing diversity and that she was able to win!

I didn't watch it, but I read a bunch of the comments from my local news station and I was so sad. She is beautiful and deserved to win, but people can't get past skin color and that is awful.

I wasn't surprised, especially after those reactions to when Marc Anthony sang at the MLB all-star game and people were upset that he sang God Bless America because they didn't think he was "American."

She is beautiful, just like many of the other contestants. And she's just as American as the rest of them. I don't think the people calling her an Arab and a terrorist or not a true American understand history and geography.

It seems that for these people you must be white to be a "true American," whatever the hell that means.

That is just awful. I am not a huge fan of pageants to begin with. The whole point of them is to be judged which sends a wrong message.

I think it is a shame that people react this way. It breaks my heart but it does go to show you that there are class and racial lines in this country that are not so easily crossed. We'd like to all think we can move freely in the social order, but it's not really the truth.

I also question the purpose of the pageant, I mean, I know it is partly scholarship, which I support but I guess I am questioning the purpose? Maybe someone else knows?

I was disappointed that she was the winner but only because I wanted Miss Kansas to win (I would have been disappointed no matter who won if it wasn't Miss Kansas). I loved Miss NY's dress and talent so she definitely deserved to win. I'm surprised at the backlash because I didn't think that many people cared about Miss America anymore.

@Meltini: Is that because of her rockin' tattoo?

It saddens me, but doesn't surprise me.

What does get me is the amount of people that spew awful racist things on accounts that are attached to their own names. I saw another post on this situation, and the tweets featured in the news article are tame in comparison. The idea that the Internet is anonymous and your presence is never noted seems to be overly embraced by idiotic bigots.

Wow. I didn't watch it at all, but I heard about her win on the radio this morning. They did a pretty long segment joking about the fact that Miss NY seemed to be a bit spacey (I guess they needed to call her name three times to start her talent before she noticed they were calling her?)... but they never said anything about her race. People are awful. I really don't see how race has anything to do with a pageant.

Sigh. This just goes to show that not only do we have a huge problem with racism and xenophobia in this country, but we are also spectacularly bad at geography and knowing anything about cultures other than WASP culture.

1) you can tell by her name that she is Hindu, not Muslim

2) you can tell by her skin color that she is not Arab. Americans are so clueless when it comes to Arab culture it's ridiculous. They think people from the subcontinent are Arab, and they probably think Arabs are Italian or something (when judging by looks alone), unless of course it's a woman in hijab. This is why we had the Sikh temple shooting--- because Americans keep proving time and time again that we are stupid--- and that shooter thought Sikh Indians wearing turbans were Arab.

3) ARAB is an ethnicity, not a religion. There are many Christian and non religious Arabs.

4) most importantly....if she had been Muslim, up there wearing a bikini.....well, good for her! It's not okay to be racist against some e because of their religion.

5) we've actually already and an Arab Miss USA. So this should be old news...but it isn't, because again....we Americans have a lot to learn about geography and the rest of the world.

End rant.

@Anagram: I have to admit I know nothing about Middle Eastern/most of Asian culture. Actually - seeing someone's name I would have no idea (in general) what their heritage is! Russian is usually an easy guess but in general - I would have no idea. I also could never tell anyone's heritage by their skin color either!
Are these things most people (not just Americans; in other countries too) can tell?

ETA: you are right about race/ethnicity vs religion - it's apparent most Americans/Westerners think all Middle Easterners are Muslim.

I am shocked at all the racist and bigoted comments. When she won, I didn't have a second thought about it. I thought she was beautiful and well accomplished, and that was that. It makes me sad that so many people in this country still stoop to that level.

I'm not happy with the new miss america because she "allegedly" called the outgoing miss america "fat as f**k." Shame, shame if that's true. Miss america literally serves no other purpose than to be a pretty role model. She definitely shouldn't be catty. I really hope it's not true. But then again, I dont care much at all!