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little miss hispanic stripped of her title
little miss hispanic stripped of her title
Little 7-year-old Jakiya McKoy entered the 2013 Miss Chiquita Delaware pageant in the hopes of winning. Jakiya, who is African-American is also 25% Hispanic via her grandmother from La Vega, Dominican Republic. The photogenic Jakiya performed well and took the top honor as Miss Chiquita Delaware. However, there were those in attendance that disapproved of her victory and vocally disapproved of the judges decision from the moment Jakiya was made the winner.
The outcry from those who were not satisfied with someone who is overtly African-American looking as the face of the pageant led to a challenge of her Hispanic ethnicity. Jakiya’s parents were unable to substantiate their daughter’s Hispanic roots and the organization which oversees the pageant, Nuestras Raíces (Our Roots) Delaware, was forced to strip her of her crown.
The organization’s president Maria Perez is quick to state that race had nothing to do with their decision to revoke Jakiya’s victory. She stated that the McKoy family was asked to produce proof of their daughter’s Hispanic heritage but was unable to do so.
‘We can’t have her be the queen if she doesn’t have the proper documentation,’ she said. ‘It’s not the first time that we’ve been confronted with the [burden of proof]. It’s happened in the past and they’ve brought in the proof and we were satisfied with it.’
Jakiya’s family and others believe the incident is racially motivated and that Hispanics did not want to see a black girl win the pageant. Sadly, they are likely correct, but that doesn’t mean that the organization Nuestras Raíces Delaware was complicit.
On the Web:
Devastated Little Miss Hispanic winner, 7 stripped of her crown because she’s ‘not Latin enough’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2434351/Little-Miss-Hispanic-Delaware-stripped-crown-Latina-enough.html