A Jewel in a Tarnished Crown

A whirlwind of over a million racists and hateful remarks flooded twitter last week after a woman of color was crowned as the new Miss France. The radiant mocha toned Flora Conquerel was excited to be crowned and represent her country even admits the backlash against the multiracial beauty queen. Conquerel represents an ever-changing world where racial homogeneity is not the norm. She is not the first public figure of color to receive racist taunts and jabs at her beauty.

European or Aryan physical attributes have ruled supreme as the definition of beauty for women in western culture. This has led to not generations of identity crisis and self hate among women of color but has developed disorders in non-colored women who do not portray the hallmarks of European “beauty”.

In America, we experience the use of race to deem someone physically and visually undesirable with our own First Lady. First Lady Michelle Obama physique was ridiculed, deemed “fat” and “masculine” in the same breath. Besides black public figures in America being under the “beauty” microscope, women of color are barraged everyday with advertisements for skin lightening cream and diet programs, pressure from their friends and families on their appearance and celebrities who have their appearance drastically altered with plastic surgery.

The citizens of the world call for acceptance of diversity in their everyday life including their government and society, because we all come from a grey area of race and culture. What is considered beautiful this century may change all together in the next century. I hope the next definition of beauty is blank; a clean slate that will allow an individual to be beautiful because they are a living, breathing human soul.