Call for Black Contestants Ignites Debate Over 'Racist' Pageant

A pageant’s recent call for black contestants in Pennsylvania has prompted a firestorm of feedback that the event is “racist” against whites.

Numerous Patch sites in Pennsylvania posted a story Tuesday that the Miss Black Pennsylvania USA organization is currently seeking contestants for its annual pageant.

The story sparked a debate among readers, with some saying the event, which has been going on since 1986, is racist.

Some readers said the event was flat out racist and suggested the creation of a “Miss White Pennsylvania” pageant.

“A Miss White Pennsylvania pageant would be shut down for being racist,” wrote one reader on Lansdale Patch’s Facebook page in response to the article.

“Please give me more information on this pageant’s counterpart, Miss White Pennsylvania,” another reader wrote.

Others said segregation in any form is a step backwards.

“There shouldn’t be a white or black miss Pennsylvania pageant. Why are people trying to segregate our state? The existing miss Pennsylvania pageant has no race restrictions on who enters. This seems like a step backwards for unifying our people,” a Lansdale Patch reader said on Facebook.

Yet some readers were quick to put the pageant into historical perspective.

“Our entire race was not restricted from basic human rights for over a century and we’re pissed off because black people have had a disadvantage in almost every aspect of life and are seeking to build themselves up. Some white folk need to get with the program and realize that most of their parents were the ones that restricted blacks from entering a single one of these white pageants until the early 70s,” a user responded via Lansdale Patch Facebook.

Winners of the Miss Black Pennsylvania pageant will go on to compete in the Miss Black USA 2016 Pageant.

According to the organizers, the mission of the Miss Black USA Pageant is “to provide educational opportunities to outstanding young women of color and to develop the whole woman – mind, body, and spirit.”

Since 1986, the Miss Black USA Pageant has provided winners with scholarship money, international travel opportunities, modeling contracts and leadership development, the organization said.