Historians in the future still won’t know how she beat Miss Oklahoma, but Lebanese immigrant, Rima Fakih, won Miss America last night. To reiterate, Rima Fakih is Miss America. AP reports:
The 24-year-old Miss Michigan beat out 50 other women to take the title Sunday night, despite nearly stumbling in her evening gown. She told reporters later that she believed she had won after glancing at pageant owner Trump as she awaited the results with the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard. “That’s the same look that he gives them when he says, ‘You’re hired,'” on Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” she said. “She’s a great girl,” said Trump, who owns the pageant with NBC in a joint venture. Fakih, an Arab-American from Dearborn, Mich., told pageant organizers her family celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths. “We’re very proud as Lebanese Americans and as Lebanese that Rima reached this point despite all the pressures and stereotyping about Arabs and Lebanese. She made it. She fought and reached her goal,” her sister said.
Despite coming from a self-loathing and religiously confused family, it’s inspiring to see a girl rise above stereotypes and prejudices to achieve of her dream of becoming an underpaid spokesmodel. I hope her native people are proud of her accomplishment. When they stone her in the street and pour acid in her face for being a godless heathen, hopefully they’ll do it with love.
