Mrs. USA Deshauna Barber took to the world stage for another time after receiving backlash about her win. The culprit behind the hateful words and put downs are internet trolls who wanted the pageant queen to feel “less than” because of her skin complexion.
In an interview with Huffington Post Black Voices, Barber explained that she was originally “shocked” by the cyber hate especially the put downs because of her race.
“I just knew that everyone would just be ‘whoo whoo’ and [saying] ‘we love Deshauna she represents this country.’ And I have been positively received but there’s been a lot of negative [comments].” Barber said. “I was called tar monkey [and] the n-word. I had a lot of moments where people thought I was better off being Miss Africa USA versus Miss USA. And to me, it was very discouraging.”
“I had to really reevaluate how I feel emotionally about myself and the confidence that I have,” Barber continued. “Because there were moments where I was like ‘Man, am I really that ugly? Do people really think that I don’t deserve to represent this crown?’ Then I realized there’s a lot of little black and brown girls that look up to me saying, ‘She looks like me.’”
A truth that is relatable on so many levels to many brown and black girls out there, including myself.
To build herself back up, the crown wearing woman and Miss District of Columbia turned to her family and her boyfriend.
Now that she’s up again, let us focus on shining light and appreciating all people because God made us different on purpose.
4 months ago today I was engulfed in love and support by my sisters after being crowned #MissUSA! Someone please slow down time! – DB pic.twitter.com/8NnLTvNDLt
— Deshauna Barber (@MissUSA) October 5, 2016
(h/t Huffington Post)