Prejudices against Indians emerge with selection of new Miss America

On Sept. 15, New York’s Nina Davuluri twirled across the polished Oxford blue stage of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall in a Ghagra Choli, a traditional Indian dress adorned in crimson and gold. 

Later that night, when Davuluri became the first Indian-American to be crowned Miss America, she was confronted with thousands of racist comments on social media sites like Twitter. 

Comments calling Davuluri everything from “a terrorist” to “Miss 7-11,” a reference to the large number of Indians who own or manage 7-Eleven stores, surfaced across the web. Many seemed to think that Davuluri is a Muslim, and hence in Al-Qaeda, making allusions to 9/11. 

Junior Anjali Manghnani was outraged by these comments. 

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Manghnani said. “[For one], Indians had nothing to do with 9/11; that was a small, Muslim extremist group,” she said. “Not every single brown person is part of the Taliban.”

Others posts asked, “Egyptian dancing? This is America,” and, “How the [expletive] does the foreigner win Miss America?”

Junior Natalie Lemire found these comments to be “awful.”

“It’s [horrible] what people are saying, but there are always going to be [people] who [say] stuff like that,” Lemire said. “Sadly, that reaction is just expected from some people.”

While Lemire said the controversy was “expected,” junior Meghna Chakraborty found the backlash surprising. 

“[The backlash made] you realize there are still people who are so narrow-minded and ignorant,” Chakraborty said. “It annoyed me that people still think that way as [Davuluri] is obviously representative of a typical American with goals and dreams.”

In an interview with “Fox News,” Davuluri said that the backlash “stemmed from ignorance.”  

"I have to rise above [the comments]. I always viewed myself as first and foremost American,” Davuluri said, during an interview with USA Today.

Junior Neha Anand was impressed with Davuluri’s response.

“I thought she handled it really well,” Anand said. “There will always be controversies. I think we should focus on her accomplishment rather than people's negative views.”

When Davuluri entered the pageant, she had one goal: to be the first Indian-heritage Miss America. And although she faced racial slurs and hateful comments along the way, Davuluri ultimately emerged victorious.

Sophomore Sanam Mohan believes that Davuluri’s victory proves that the definition of “American” is becoming broader and more inclusive, and that we must learn to adapt to those changes.

“We live in an area where being American doesn't mean being white, and we are pretty comfortable with that idea,” Mohan said. “It’s time that people start realizing that in this day in age, an American is someone from so many different kinds of backgrounds.”