1st Black winner in Mississippi history wins Miss USA crown
Source: ABC News
Asya Branch, a student at the University of Mississippi, set a number of firsts in her home state when she won the Miss USA 2020 title on Monday evening at Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 22-year-old made history as the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi USA and Monday night's win was the first time a Mississippi contestant won the overall title.
"I couldn't believe that my name had been called," Branch, a native of Booneville, said on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "I'm the first Miss Mississippi to have been crowned Miss USA and so, honestly I was just honored and overwhelmed and completely overjoyed."
Branch's historic win comes just one year after Black women made history in the pageant world, sweeping all the top titles. In 2019, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss America, Miss Universe and Miss World crowned Black women as winners at the same time.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/1st-black-contestant-mississippi-history-wins-miss-usa/story?id=74127081&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed
I normally don't give a rip about these pageants, but this is pretty special.
niyad
(113,582 posts)Enterstageleft
(3,399 posts)MaryMagdaline
(6,856 posts)Great to see her focus is prison reform
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)NBachers
(17,146 posts)orwell
(7,776 posts)Cha
(297,723 posts)oldsoftie
(12,615 posts)Would anyone 50 yrs ago think they would have picked a black woman as their representative?
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Dial H For Hero
(2,971 posts)Branch took home the top prize on Monday evening after sharing her thoughts on gun control. Following two intense rounds of eliminations in the swimsuit and evening gown contests, the final speaking round of the competition asked the remaining five candidates to deliver a 30-second statement on a topic randomly selected from a plastic box. Miss Mississippi drew the gun laws card.
As someone who grew up in a home with guns, I learned at an early age how to load, how to fire, and gun safety, Branch began her statement, and I think that education should be available to everyone. She went on to say that she believes people should have to go through training and pass safety tests before theyre allowed a permit for a gun.
Ultimately, though, the beauty queen was clear in her defense of the right to bear arms. I think its important that we not ban guns, because obviously people will find a way to get what they want anyways, but I think its our Second Amendment Right, and we just need more safety surrounding that, she said.
In an earlier segment of the competition, she also weighed in on the political polarization of the country, attributing it to a lack of trust in the systems that seem to keep our country running, from the media, to business, to our government. (Shes also voiced some troubling views on those in the gay community, albeit back in 2012.)
(excerpt)
nycbos
(6,039 posts)groundloop
(11,523 posts)nycbos
(6,039 posts)Trump increased his share of the white vote. They like him for the racism, for the antisemitism, for the Islamaphobia, for the policies that legalize discrimination against the LGBT community. Georgia is competitive because Whites make up a smaller share of the electorette and African-American, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans make up a higher share.
As Lyndon Johnson said "if you could convince the lowest white man he is better than the best colored man he won't notice you picking his pockets."
groundloop
(11,523 posts)I can point out that tRump is NOT a good businessman because he's gone bankrupt 6 times, that he's not a faithful husband, etc. Little by little a few people might begin to wake up.
If I just called them fucking inbreds that would just harden them against any possibility of seeing the light. While somewhat personally satisfying, calling people names does more harm than good.
nycbos
(6,039 posts)Normally we get around 10%
It took the Republican candidate to be a child molester for us to even have a narrow chance and even then we barely scraped by.
This goes way beyond just having a difference of opinion. There is a difference in humanity when one side thinks it's OK to put children in cages and the other side doesn't.
When Trump called Mexicans rapists, called the Klansman who were shouting "Jews will not replace us" "fine people." when he incited terrorism against a sitting governor these people said "yeah we like him.
I think there is a slim to none chance we could reach people like that. We're certainly not going to triple our performance with them.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)Some people seem to enjoy the "us and them" mentality. I don't.