Racist tweets dog Indian-American Miss America

Moments after making history as the first Indian American to be crowned Miss America, the 24-year-old Miss New York Nina Davuluri faced a barrage of racist tweets on the Internet.

"If you're #Miss America, you should have to be American," said one as cited by CNN.

"WHEN WILL A WHITE WOMAN WIN #MISSAMERICA? Ever??!!" screamed another.

Davuluri is also the first beauty queen of Indian descent to serve as Miss New York.

But instead of focusing on how a New Yorker had won the beauty pageant for the second consecutive year, the tweets were about Davuluri's heritage, CNN noted.

"Well, they just picked a Muslim for Miss America. That must've made Obama happy. Maybe he had a vote," vented one person cited by CNN pointing that Davuluri was not a Muslim and the president didn't have a vote.

 

Davuluri herself brushed aside the negative comments saying: "I have to rise above that."

"I always viewed myself as first and foremost American," she said.