Former Miss America Gets Ugly
By Guide Kimberly Hohman
Dateline: 08/03/00
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Read a statement from Miss Johnson about her views on this issue. |
Former Miss America, Nicole Johnson dissed interracial relationships in a C-SPAN interview on Tuesday, following her appearance at the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia. The telephone question-and-answer portion of the interview turned ugly when the beauty queen responded to a caller's comments about the ban on interracial dating at Bob Jones University by saying of interracial dating, "I wouldn't smile upon that."
Miss Johnson, who's reign as Miss America 1999 ended in September of last year, focused her Miss America platform primarily on diabetes research and education. Johnson was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 19 during her sophomore year of college at the University of South Florida and has since been insulin-dependent. She is currently working as an international motivational speaker and freelance reporter/anchor on The Christian Broadcasting Network and on The Odyssey Network.
Her involvement with politics had been suspended until after she returned her Miss America crown, at the suggestion of pageant officials. In her interview, Johnson said that political involvement as Miss America is "Not really recommended…I had received recommendations that maybe I should temper some of my views and try to go mainstream and go with the flow, at least for that time." But having shed her title, Miss Johnson joined comedian Ben Stein in "rallying the crowd," as she put it, at the Republican National Convention on July 31.
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"I personally wouldn't interracially date… That doesn't mean that I would frown upon someone else." |
Miss Johnson appeared comfortable in the C-SPAN Washington Journal interview, her Miss America smile firmly in place as she answered mundane questions about her recommendations for the role of George W. Bush's daughters in their father's political career. But things got a little testy when a male caller grilled her on the Republican Party's convention theme of "inclusion" with Dubya's history on certain racial issues including his not-committal stance on the Confederate flag issue and his appearance at Bob Jones University. The caller claimed the Republicans were "putting on a show" and not serious about inclusion.
Apparently slightly shaken by the subject, Miss Johnson "umm-ed" her way through the following response:
I think that this is a starting point it's a starting ground, this convention and this week, for the Republican party and this presidential campaign to become more inclusive… so, I'm very hopeful about it and very encouraged by the things that I saw last night in the sessions with the representation of all different types of races, all different types of genders, all different types of religions and that's very important. And I appreciate that theme particularly as a young person getting involved in politics and seeing more of that diversity that celebrates the culture and the society that we live in.
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And things just went down hill from there.
The next caller, a black Republican, revisited the Bob Jones theme saying that, "In the black community, we know that we don't like interracial dating." Miss Johnson, smiled and nodded sympathetically before responding, "Those are very good comments, and I agree with you on all avenues."
Picking up on Johnson's hesitancy to elaborate on what exactly she agreed with the caller on, the interviewer pressed Johnson on the issue, "You do not support interracial dating?"
A visibly flustered Johnson replied, "Well, I personally wouldn't interracially date. But that doesn't mean that I would frown upon someone else, because I think that we all… we live in a country of freedom. And we all have the freedom to choose whatever we want to follow in our lives and we have to respect that in each other. But, umm, I wouldn't smile upon that in my life or the life [sic] of individuals in my family."
No wonder her pageant officials asked her to temper her views. It's just too bad the Republican's didn't give her the same advice.
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"But, umm, I wouldn't smile upon that in my life." |
Not only do Miss Johnson's statements speak volumes about who she is as an individual (As one of our forum members put it, "Basically she is saying that everyone can do what they wish, but for her, she judges people by the color of their skin if they are to date her."), but it also doesn't bode very well for the party that has themed a campaign around inclusion.
How do you spell rhetoric?
Johnson summed it up nicely, "Through this whole entire convention, they're preaching the message and talking a lot about inclusion. And that's very important for the Republican party and for society in general."
No kidding.
Note: In response to an interview request, Nicole Johnson has offered About a statement of her views on this issue.