Crown & Conquer: Muslim Miss USA Overcomes Ethnic & Racial Stereotypes

On May 1, Pakistani-American Muslim, Faisal Shahzad, left a Nissan Pathfinder rigged with a makeshift explosive to go off in Times Square. Although the bomb attempt failed, it further widened the door to racial division between the Muslim world and the West. Since the Sept.11, 2001, attacks, Islamic terrorism has engulfed our society, creating ripple effects in our daily life. No-fly lists and racial scrutiny, enhances the overall racial profiling of any person shrouded in turbans or burqas.

Two weeks later, Lebanese-American Muslim, Rima Fakih, competed for one of the most coveted roles in American culture, the title of Miss USA. As a result, the 24-year-old was crowned Miss USA, a unique feat, never won by any Muslim. The crowning of a Muslim Miss USA comes at a time when Americans are crippled by the fear of Islamic terrorism.

According to Imad Hamad, regional director for the Michigan Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, Fakih is now more than a beauty queen. He says she has become a battleground between haters of her crown and sympathizers, and even embroiled in outlandish rumors that she is a spy for the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

Less than 24 hours after the crown rested on her dark tresses, another controversy surfaced. The Detroit Morning radio show, “Mojo in the Morning,” released photos of Fakih on a stripper pole.

“It wasn’t pole dancing,” Fakih says of the photos in a Fox & Friends interview. “It was more of a promotional event. My friend who is a DJ at the station, said, ‘Why don’t you get up there, and get the women to feel a little bit confident’...and pictures were snapped.”

It is hard to gauge which story will ignite the most firestorm during her reign, but to many Muslims she is a beacon of hope to bridge the racial divide, and give their distrusted community a much-needed facelift.

Fakih and her family moved from Lebanon to Queens, NY in the 1990s, and continued to live there during and after the 9/11 attacks. Her family then moved to Dearborn, Mich., to a highly populated Arab-American community, where she graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Even in her town where the Muslim values still run deep, Hamad believes she represents the confident face of a new generation of Arab-Americans despite the stapled traditions of conservatism. “Her victory adds to the beauty of Dearborn and portrays a new social image for Muslims everywhere,” he says.

Watching Fakih’s appearance – and the other few black and brown hues – among the other blond, blue-eyed contestants, illustrates a deeper richness in American society. In an interview with Global Arab Network, she concurs that her status as a beauty queen “would prove that Arabs do not always try to separate themselves, but instead are integrated into American culture.”

Beauty pageants can be a launching pad for open dialogues, such as the one she expresses, and Fikah is not the only Muslim woman who walks around without a veil. However, with her new, prominent role in the American eye, it elevates a common thread between American Christians, non-Christians, and Jews. In addition, according to Hamad, the beauty queen’s down-to-earth attitude, and infectious sense of humor offers a healthy dose to ease tensions among diverse circles.

Pageant competitions may not be as poignant as running for governmental offices, notes Hamad, but in the U.S., Miss America and Miss USA pageants are iconic cultural traditions that transcend mores and create commonalities. “Whether you believe in the necessity of pageants or not, you can’t discount its power to unite this country.”

Every year, young girls gaze upon a publicized representation of beauty, and for decades, this beauty was illuminated in just one color, but Vanessa Williams changed all of that when she won Miss America in 1983. Despite being forced to resign her crown after nude photos resurfaced from Penthouse magazine, it opened the door for a succession of black women, as well as other women of all colors, to become the crowned figurehead of American beauty.

A picture of poise in spiked heels and a sash, signifies more than just beauty, it brings out the representation of the similarities between people like Fakih, Ericka Dunlap (Miss America, 2004), and Angela Baraquio Grey (Miss America, 2001), all of whom battled stereotypes from within and without. “The challenges we face are tremendous, politically, and socially. At the end of the day, we are all a nation of immigrants,” Hamad says.

These pageants subtly connect the dots among different races and cultures, in many ways, and upon winning, these young women elevate, and bring awareness to various causes that are blind to issues of ethnicity and dogma.

Fakih’s platform is breast and ovarian cancer awareness. She is also an ambassador of The Pink Fund, an organization that helps fund treatment for breast cancer patients, according to its website. As she advocates her platform, and enjoys the grandeur of the crown, Fakih paints a fresh portrait through the debris and rubble we still see today.

Not every group carries the same DNA, but there are good people within every race, culture, and ethnicity .The government and law enforcement have the right to implement safety measures from extremists who wish to eradicate us, but maybe, the US, as well as other countries, will take a moment to contemplate the significance of Fakih’s hallmark moment. Are we any closer to eliminating the racial divide as tension weighs down America’s shoulders? Or, will some set their sights on Fakih’s next feat – the grandmother of them all – the 2010 Miss Universe pageant?