"America should be more American." That's the theme now anytime a U.S. citizen from another descent succeeds at something that's considered to be exclusively American. We all remember Sebastien de la Cruz's performance of the Stars Spangled Banner at the NBA Finals that sparked a flurry of tweets criticizing the young Mariachi for not being "American enough" to sing the National Anthem, although he was born and raised in Texas. Then we had Marc Anthony performing a beautiful rendition to God Bless America at the MLB All Star Game that again, brought up the most racist comments from social media users who weren't pleased that a "Mexican" -- although Anthony is American of Puerto Rican descent -- performed a song rooted to the American tradition.
This time around, the racist anger from a few citizens that really need to re-take their History and Geography, has shadowed the milestone that the Miss American pageant reached for the first time. Nina Davuluri became the first Indian-American woman to win the beauty competition, with the platform "Celebrating Diversity through Cultural Competency," and performed a traditional Indian dance infused with more modern Bollywood moves for the talent portion of the competition. She has studied the Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam styles of dance, and in preparation for the Miss America contest, she worked with famed Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan.
Not only is Davuluri gorgeous and talented, she is also very smart. The 24-year-old Fayetteville, New York, native was on the dean's list and earned the Michigan Merit Award and National Honor Society nods while studying at the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a degree in brain behavior and cognitive science. Her father, who emigrated from India 30 years ago, is a gynecologist, and Davuluri said she'd like to become a physician one day as well. She plans to use a $50,000 scholarship she won as part of the pageant to apply for medical school.
"I was the first Indian Miss New York, and I'm so proud to be the first Indian Miss America," Nina Davuluri said after she won. However, the Internet quickly lit up following Davuluri's win on Sunday evening, with some uninformed viewers weighing in on the decision with offensive, derogatory comments. "Miss Arab wins Miss America and the score of the Seattle/SanFran game is 5-0 at the half? What is life?" one Twitter user wrote. "Asian or Indian are you kiddin this is america omg," another chimed in, referencing first runner up, Crystal Lee, Miss California. "9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?" another person wrote, and some users denied their prejudice while expressing their bigotry, "I swear I'm not racist but this is America," one woman wrote.
Davuluri, however, rose above those comments and graciously dismissed the haters: "I have to rise above that," she said. "I always viewed myself as first and foremost American." She added, "I'm so happy this organization has embraced diversity. I'm thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America."
RELATED: Miss America 2014 Crowns Nina Davuluri: 4 Things To Know About Miss New York
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