New Miss America’s heritage sparks racist comments

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TODAY – The crowning of the latest Miss America has stirred up the ugly side of social media.

Miss New York, Syracuse native Nina Davuluri, won the crown Sunday night, and as soon as she did, Twitter lit up with comments suggesting she was an Arab, a foreigner, and a terrorist with ties to Al Qaeda.

Why the hate?

Davuluri, who aspires to be a doctor like her father, is the first Miss America whose family comes from India. Her win also happens to be the second consecutive victory for New York, but that got lost in tweets by people who couldn’t look past her skin-deep beauty.

“Congratulations Al-Qaeda. Our Miss America is one of you,” tweeted “De La Rutherford,” or @Blayne_MkltRain, who has since pulled down the full Twitter profile.

Many individuals who ranted over the Miss America decision pulled down their Twitter pages after media sites posted their comments. Luke Brasili pulled down his profile after he tried to connect Davuluri’s win with the September 11 anniversary.

“9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets Miss America?” he tweeted in a post @LukeBrasili.

But Nick Puzzo kept his site up, using it to defend himself against people who reacted angrily to him tweeting, “So miss america is a terrorist.”

Davulari, for her part, embraced her heritage in the talent portion of the Miss America competition. She performed an Indian dance fused with Bollywood moves. After she won her crown, she dismissed the online remarks disparaging her heritage.

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