By Danny Contreras

Nina Davuluri won the 2014 Miss America Pageant this past Sunday, becoming the first Indian-American pageant winner in pageant history. The New York native was chosen over California’s Crystal Lee and Oklahoma’s Kelsey Griswold. Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, won America’s Choice.

While Americans should be celebrating our ability to look beyond race as a basis for beauty, many took to Twitter to bash the new crowned beauty queen.

Tweets ranged from xenophobic to racist:

User @Granvil_Colt wrote, “And the Arab wins Miss America. Classic.”

@JPLman95 tweeted, “Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11.”

Crowd favorite Miss Kansas also received support through the racist tweets of users,

Kaleb Trahan (@Kaelbistoocute) wrote, “Man our president nor our new Miss America isn’t even American I’m sorry but Miss Kansas I salute you your the real American #MissAmerica”

There comes a time where we need to access where we are as a country. While I believe race, and ethnic relations have come a long way from decades ago, after Obama’s election into office, it seems as though the conversation has deteriorated.

Of course, these users do not represent all of America, but the fact that these thoughts remain, are troubling. Davuluri is an American woman born in Syracuse, New York, from Indian parents who migrated over 30 years ago.

She is proud of her heritage and showcased her culture during the talent competition where she did a Bollywood dance number.

According to AP, Nina Davuluri dismissed the comments, saying:

“I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America. As for the negativity, she said, “I have to rise above that. I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”

It alarms me that America still struggles with this kind of ignorant thought. We all know this country was built by immigrants; we are a country that fought a civil war over slavery. As people, as Americans we should be past this.

It disgusts me that there are tweets like this because they are the ones that will get noticed–the ones that the whole American population will be judged upon.

This country has its problems, and one of them is racism and xenophobia. Davuluri’s win is a slap in the face to racism; to those who cannot accept that the country they were born in is the anti-thesis of what they hate. America was built by everyone, for everyone. Congratulations to Nina Davuluri.