"Black power": A glimpse into the Miss America pageant

[Bluebear]

Some here have stated that "White power" in its current usage is exactly the same as "black power".

When the "black power" movement came to wider recognition in the 60's, culminating in the black-gloved display at the Mexico City Olympics, I took it to be a plea for equality, not superiority. It was "black power as WELL as white power."

Well into its history, the Miss America pageant's rule number seven specified that the entrant "must be of good health and of the white race". The Miss Black America pageant was formed to combat racism, not to exhibit any racial superiority. In fact, it wasn't until 1970 that Miss Iowa became the first African-American contestant in the Miss America pageant, and it was the next decade which saw the first person of color winning, Vanessa Williams.

Nowadays racists will whine that "if there is a black this and that, why can't we have our own pageant/association/trailer court", a sentiment that typifies their convenient loss of historical recognition of what started black-only events to begin with, namely the black's being excluded from white-only events/drinking fountains/schools.

To even honor the modern "White Power" movement by equating it to a minority's grasping at some kind of status is to lack historical perspective.

[Moderator]

1. Locking

This is an attempt to restart a previously locked and inappropriate topic.

DU Moderator