No pride in prejudice
The recently crowned Miss America, Nina Davuluri, was born in Syracuse, New York, and is the daughter of Indian immigrants from Vijayawada. But her being American has been completely overlooked by some bigoted white Americans who spewed racist venom on her, variously calling her a “foreigner” and an “Arab”.
We would be foolish to get worked up. Racism exists in many parts of the world, not just the United States. Narrow-focused chauvinists who revel in ethnic, caste or majoritarian religion-based supremacist attitudes are to be found everywhere, including in our own country.
Perhaps a good education for white race zealots in the US might be a trip to New York, the city where non-whites now outnumber the whites. Indeed, in America, the whites do constitute the majority, but only just.
That is not the real point, though. The issue is that the credo of the United States is egalitarianism and non-discrimination. But the society has not always lived up to this ideal and the anti-black attitudes so flagrantly on display in earlier decades is proof of that. Even so, it can hardly be denied that struggles and adjustments have existed side by side, strengthening America’s internal democracy.
Chances are that those attacking the new beauty queen for her race will also be against American blacks, Latinos and other non-whites. We live in hope that the edge is taken off race relations with the spread of social education, which is always a protracted process.
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