Arab-Americans delight in Miss USA victory

[babylonsister]

Arab-Americans delight in Miss USA victory
Lebanese immigrant Rima Fakih's crowning seen as a triumph for diversity amid anti-immigration sentiment
By JOCELYN NOVECK, Associated Press

Associated Press/Isaac Brekken

Miss Michigan Rima Fakih reacts as she is crowned Miss USA on May 16, 2010


Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant sure knows how to make headlines.

Arab-Americans rejoiced Monday over the crowning of raven-haired beauty Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old Lebanese immigrant from Michigan, calling it a victory for diversity in the United States, especially at a time when Arabs suffer from negative stereotypes in this country -- and anti-immigrant sentiment is in the news.

Meanwhile, some harsh critics wondered if Trump's Miss USA organization was trying to send a message, sniping that the victory amounted to "affirmative action," or implying the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA, suffered unfairly because of an answer she gave supporting Arizona's new immigration law.

All this comes, of course, a year after 2009 runner-up Carrie Prejean and her views on gay marriage dominated the headlines. Suddenly it seemed like the pageant had become a battleground, albeit in bikinis and flesh-baring gowns, for the hot-button political and social issues of the day.

If all that weren't enough, photos emerged of Fakih pole-dancing in skimpy shorts and a tank top in a radio show contest in 2007. The show's producers said they'd been contacted by representatives of the Miss Universe contest requesting more photographs and information. But the show also noted -- correctly -- that the photos were no more provocative than anything on the Miss USA website.

In any case, Arab-Americans were elated by the victory of Fakih, who was born into a powerful Shiite family in southern Lebanon and whose family said they celebrate both the Muslim and Christian faiths.

"With all the stigma that goes around -- especially after 9/11 and how people portray Muslims and Arab-Americans -- it's just a great way to knock down all those barriers," said Dewnya Bakri-Bazzi, 22, a Muslim law student from Dearborn, Mich., who uptated her Facebook status to read, "woot woot who knows maybe I can be the next Miss America?"

more...

http://www.salon.com/life/beauty_pageants/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/05/17/us_miss_usa

[handmade34]

1. I am not a fan of beauty pageants, but...

I am just delighted that Rima Fakih gets to wear that crown