Are Race Biased Pageants Too Controversial? Mbathio Beye Crowned First Ever 'Miss Black France' Amongst Controversy

by Deborah Posted 2012/05/01 03:58:44

Related Topics: Student, Marketing, pageant, 21, Paris, President, Queen, Contest, color, American, France, 2012, Race, Beauty, Beauty Queen, Media, French, Country

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Mbathio Beye

Miss Black France
Chloé Mortaud

won Miss France Title —a biracial woman of African American and French descent.
Vanessa Williams

1st Black Miss America, amidst controversy

Are Race Biased Pageants Too Controversial? Mbathio Beye Crowned First Ever 'Miss Black France' Amongst Controversy

18 votes
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View Results and Demographics + View Demographics

		Racism keeps us from progressing
		We can't progress until.....
		We have progressed it's just that.......
		Undecided (Please leave a comment)
		None of the above (Please leave a comment)

Loading Demographics... Click an icon to see demographic results Display unknown and private
	Racism keeps us from progressing	10 votes	56%
	We can't progress until.....	1 vote	6%
	We have progressed it's just that.......	1 vote	6%
	Undecided	3 votes	17%
	None of the above	3 votes	17%

Why have we not progressed past the need for this?
France has a new queen--beauty queen that is. Mbathio Beye has been crowned the first "Miss Black France"

But there was a lot of hoopla surrounding the pageant, so we're surprised it even took place.

According to the pageant's organizer Frédéric Royer, the goal of the event was to “celebrate black beauty,” and "to shine a light on the many Black women in this country who are rarely given any media attention."

Yet the last time woman of color to took home the "Miss France" title was only three years ago in 2009 when Chloé Mortaud won—a biracial woman of African American and French descent.

Protesters have called the "Miss Black France" pageant "stupid," "dangerous" and "hostile." Even the founder and president of the French Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN), Patrick Lozes, said the pageant is hardly “progressive.”

But despite these strong sentiments the pageant commenced and crowned it's queen.

Beye was officially named the first "Miss Black France" Saturday night in Paris, after being selected from a pool of 1,000 applicants and ultimately competing amongst 17 other finalists. Beye, 21, hails from Senegal and is a marketing student.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/mbathio-beye-crowned...

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sockpuppet 2012/05/01 04:43:56

We can't progress until.....

+3
We need to do away with the double standard. If we have 'black' beauty pageants, we should be able to have 'white' ones as well. And Asian ones. And Hispanic ones. Etc. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's okay for EVERY group to do.

Seems like it would be a lot nicer if we could all just play together, though.
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Adakin Valorem 2012/05/02 17:28:06

None of the above

+1
Race based, region based (city, county, state, etc) product based (Miss Budweiser?), so what? If you define the catagory so specifically that anyone or anything wins, it defeats the porpose... but then, if its a privately funded event, privately promoted event, so what.

I KNOW that I'm the most BEAUTIFUL Woman anywhere on my property right now! ;-) So if you define the area, everyone can make some sort of similar claim... thereby making the entire analysis moot.

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Dzeeng 2012/05/02 11:37:20

Undecided

+1
I don't know,complicated

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CREW grand 2012/05/02 07:50:59

Undecided

I can't help but notice that many "black" pageant winners have some of the lightest skin tones I've ever seen.
They usually have their hair styled in a "white" manner too (with the notable exception of that first one).
Personally I'd like to see a pageant that was limited to black albinos. :)

Don

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Deborah to CREW grand 2012/05/11 23:44:12

Some of us do have naturally straight hair, so I really don't know what a white styled hair is.

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aherbert 2012/05/01 22:57:17

Racism keeps us from progressing

+1

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Chaya2010 2012/05/01 18:08:34

Undecided

+1
There will always be racism, sexism, religious, tribal conflict as long as there are people. Human nature is always about picking the other.

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sockpuppet 2012/05/01 04:43:56

We can't progress until.....

+3
We need to do away with the double standard. If we have 'black' beauty pageants, we should be able to have 'white' ones as well. And Asian ones. And Hispanic ones. Etc. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's okay for EVERY group to do.

Seems like it would be a lot nicer if we could all just play together, though.

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Deborah to sockpuppet 2012/05/11 23:45:01

We do have them don't we?

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sockpuppet to Deborah 2012/05/12 00:02:50

Not that I've ever heard of... if we held a "MIss White America" there would be riots and lawsuits all year long. XD

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Dan 2012/05/01 04:11:28

Racism keeps us from progressing

What if it turned out that she had some ancestry other than black, like one of Mr. Obama's daughters? Would she then be disqualified? And if not, could it really be called a "Miss Black" pageant? For that matter what if Mr. Obama had been born looking more white than black? Would he still be considered the first black president? Would he have been elected? Why is race injected into everything? Sure it's important in some ways but it's also very superficial in others.

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sockpuppet to Dan 2012/05/01 04:47:23

+2
It IS injected into everything... suppose we just called Obama "a president" without the racial qualifier? If race makes no difference, let's ignore it altogether.

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Dan to sockpuppet 2012/05/01 04:49:17

+1
As far as politics goes, that is my point exactly.

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sockpuppet to Dan 2012/05/01 04:56:15

+2
I know... I was agreeing. :O) Sometimes, I forget that typing isn't as efficient as face-to-face communication... sorry 'bout that!

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Dan to sockpuppet 2012/05/01 05:00:15

+3
No problem. I knew you were, I was just making the point that sometimes race is important but not when it comes to job performance. I sometimes have the same problem with typing vs verbal communication. It really underscores the importance of body language.

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