SPOKEN WORD WEDNESDAYS - RAMYA RAMANA'S "MISS AMERICA"

When Kamala Harris was named this weekend as the new Vice President-elect of the United States, it was an extremely prideful moment for so many. My newsfeed immediately flooded with tributes my village made to commemorate this historic feat, and then photos of my friend's daughters watching Kamala's speech, and then my AKA friends strolling and celebrating in the streets. But then, of course, there were other posts. Some of the celebration posts were co-opted by Trump supporters who wanted to shame my Christian friends for celebrating what they believed to be an immoral woman. Read More...

They tried desperately to hide their racism behind the cross but it kept poking out.  Then there were other posts where some of my non-black associates displayed a level of entitlement, and subsequent jealousy, that I was honestly unprepared for. There seemed to be this cognitive dissonance among many that in a country that was designed to celebrate a particular hue of human, that this darker human was being celebrated instead. I was thoroughly disgusted. I fought with some of them, got blocked, got back and kept on fighting. But then I remembered that Kamala had already dealt the death blow to them by ascending to this position in the first place. They could hate all they wanted to, she was their VP now.

It made me think of Ramya Ramana who performed this poem about the tweets she saw after Nina Davuluri was named Miss America 2014. She, too, faced the hatred that was born from entitlement and disdain that this "other" had been chosen to represent America. She, too, was of South Asian descent. She, too, had to redefine a role that she previously would not have been cast in. And she did an incredible job, just as I'm sure our new VP-elect Kamala Harris will. When I threw my second pageant as the New York regional director of Miss Plus America, I had to have Ramya come recite this piece. She did not disappoint and the attendees felt the power of this poem. I hope you feel it too. Love you all!