Last night, an Indian-American won the Miss America Pageant. I did not watch the show, but later I was reading about it online and found this article.
The article both shocked and disgusted me. How can people be so ignorant, yet so confident? It baffles me that as a nation of immigrants, people have the audacity to single out what a “true American” looks like.
Everyone comes from somewhere different, unless, maybe, you are one hundred percent Native American… Regardless, a person should not be judged, especially in such a racist way, on these perceived–and extremely flawed–characteristics of what it looks like to be an American.
Besides, ‘looking’ like an American is not the important part. What matters is how we act. This shows the true colors of a nation. By making these kind of comments, whether jokingly or not, you perpetuate the negativity and oppression that we vowed to move past as an independent nation many centuries ago.
You are not just hurting the winner of the contestant in slandering her like this, but also you are making a mockery of the principles that our country was founded on.
So the question is, what does it really mean to be American? Does it mean being ignorant, racist, and disgusting? If so, we are absolutely killin’ it, ‘MERICA!
But truthfully- I know we are better than this. We are the country that believes in human rights for everyone, we are the country that has more opportunities than any other place in the world, we are the country that does NOT perpetuate hate. We embrace the differences among us and THAT’S what makes us American.
So please, let’s get our sh** together, I’m begging you.
The Lost Girl 