OPINION: Do We Really Need A Miss Black America Pageant?
From TheDailyVoice.com:
Organizers of the Miss Black America pageant are trying to revive a 40-year-old brand.
The Miss Black America pageant is on its way back. Although the pageant has been around for four decades, it seems as though it stopped operating around 1998, when the last known winner was crowned.
Now organizers of the pageant are trying to revive the 40-year-old brand that has been virtually defunct since the late 1990s. And its sponsored by Walmart. I’m not really into pageants (I guess they don’t call them “beauty pageants” anymore), but I do know about the Miss Black America contest and its storied history. Even Oprah Winfrey competed in the contest back in the day.
Years ago on a business trip, I met a young woman who had just become Miss Black Michigan, and I remember being impressed by her beauty, talent and accomplishment. But that seems like ancient history now. That was back in the day when JET magazine published its “Beauty of the Week” page in the back of the magazine. Things have changed since then, haven’t they?
Maybe it’s because we’ve had several African American women win the Miss America pageant. Or maybe because we have a black president. Or maybe pageants just don’t seem that relevant anymore.
“The world has changed so much since the pageant’s heyday,” writes Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jenice Armstrong. “Pageantry, itself, has a retro feel,” she says.
Indeed, the outdated, patriarchal language used on the web site to describe the history of the pageant, feels like it was written in 1968, when the event first began. The purpose of the pageant, it says, is ”to provide a forum for the Black Man to say his wife is mentally, spiritually, and physically beautiful the same as the white man has a forum through which to say his woman is beautiful.” Really? We’re still sticking by the black woman as object for black man argument in 2009?
Perhaps that’s a reason for some to bring back the pageant, but there’s already a Miss Black USA contest that seems to be functioning with a real live reigning queen. Is there a market for more black beauty queens? Who knows?
In a time of recession, people may just need something to distract themselves from the horrible job market. Or maybe people won’t watch it, and it won’t make much of a difference either way. Jenice Armstrong notes that ratings have been”dismal” for the Miss America pageant recently, leading her to question if an African American version can do much better. Armstong wonders “if the pageant’s time has come and gone.”
I have mixed feelings about Miss Black America. On the one hand, I have to wonder if it’s really necessary. On the other hand, I guess it doesn’t really hurt to have it, right?
WATCH Oprah talk about the Miss Black America pageant:
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I don’t think its a bad idea, but I don’t believe its absolutely necessary. We (should) have the same opportunities to compete in teh Miss American pagent. I don’t know if the rules are different… But i agree with 4JESUS_, it would be an excellent opportunity to show the positive sides of black life… yes, IT CANNOT be ghetto, otherwise there is no need, but it shouldn’t be completely whitewashed either. I should feel like i’m watching the ms black america pagent and not just another pagent with a bunch of black people in it.
I THINK IT WOULD BE COOL BECAUSE THE PAGEANTS NOW ARE 99% WHITE. SOO WHY NOT? BESIDES BLACK WOMEN NEED TO REALIZE THAT THERE ARE MORE UPSTANDING THINGS TO DO IN THIS LIFE THAT WILL STILL GET THEM NOTICED. BUT PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE GHETTO. EVEN THE BLACK RUNWAY SHOW ON BET IS GHETTO…NOT LIKE THE REAL ONES IN FRANCE. LET ME COORDINATE THE PAGEANT!
Why are we always so quick to segregate ourselves? There is not OUR people!! It’s time we think outside of the racial box this time.
Like the old saying goes “Nobody will ever take care and care for your people the way you can”. Just in case people have forgotten..America is in a crisis. White folks are only nice and considerate when the “pie” is big enough and there are crumbs to spare to black folks. Now there are only crumbs left and white folks have lost their jobs,homes,ability to have their kids in top schools etc.
As a result..they want to take Affirmitive Action totally away and the State of California have almost emptied out all the blacks in their Colleges and Universities. During these times, we must take care of our own and nurture our Black customs and traditions. Wal Mart is the sponsor because we probably can’t find a black Corporation who can afford to sponsor the event. Hell..we even sold BET away. But now is the time that we as a black national community pull together and promote education,youth positive advancement, and honor our traditions and push to support what few HBCU’s that’s left because trust me..during these hard times..we can’t depend on others. Bring back the pageant and we should glorify and celebrate the achievements of our beautiful black queens who have been soo damn under-appreciated over the last few decades..Hell..bring Soul Train/Good Times/and the Cosby show back with new characters while you at it..:)
hell no…. we need to just step our game up and stop complaining…. stop justifying by making it separated….. go take over whats already here…. thats how we need to do it… not say “f**k it, we cant make it there so we’ll create our own.”
Hell no That is just creating segregation we should not be seen for our race just our talent