I hate to get political, but it happens. Anytime a barrier is broken in the United States (female intellectuals rising to a high office, African American presidents, and major sports figures for example), we as Americans have to step back and reevaluate what it means to be an American.
The look on her face said it all. This photo is courtesy of AP.
When the latest Miss America of New York, Nina Davuluri, was crowned on 15th September 2013, mixed responses circulated the Web—as expected. Davuluri is the first Indian- American to win the award and she’s got the credentials to back up the vote: she’s got National Honor Society membership at the University of Michigan, where she studied brain behavior and cognitive science. And she’s pretty, too.
But back to the politics (sorry). We live in 2013. Yet, there are still Americans who believe that certain rights should be reserved for a certain group of people (exclusively referred to as “Americans”). The Miss America crown, for example. And so, we come to the issue of breaking barriers…
If you think about it, nothing gets more American than an Indian- American winning an award that’s ninety-two years old (with no record of an Indian-American beauty queen to date—until now). Why? Because barriers are meant to be broken.
And there’s no better place to break them than in the best country in the world, where “freedom” is the magic word.
I’ve got something in my eye…