Leila Lopes: Africa's Gift To The Ms. Universe Pageant

Much congratulations to Ms. Leila Lopes, the Angolan beauty who snatched the 2011 Ms. Universe title.  She won the coveted crown last week in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the city that hosted the global competition.  However, I noticed that right after this major win for only the second continental African woman that she was deemed "not really African".  People not familiar with Africans and their diverse, rich beauty and the regional looks, features and hair textures seemed quick to question her blackness.  I noticed the Latin media quickly tried to claim her as Cubana, having Cuban parents and claiming she speaks fluent spanish, which she does not nor are her parents Cuban. I thought this peculiar since you rarely see a Black Latina on Univision or in any Latin media.  Maybe instead of trying to claim Ms. Lopes they should include more racial diversity on their telenovelas and news programming.   Then an Argentine newspaper tried to discredit her title by printing a story that calls into question her right to be a crown holder in Britain where she's getting her business degree which made it possible for her to compete in the Ms. Universe competition. 

For the record, her parents are from Cape Verde, an island country off the West African coast which was colonized by the Portuguese.   You know, the ones who started the African slave trade. To get an idea of the people and who they resemble think Cesaria Evora, the sweet but sad Cape Verdean chanteuse, to the mixed race "Creoles" that intermixed with the Portuguese.  Now to set it straight, Ms. Universe was born and raised in Angola, another Portuguese colony in Southern Africa. 

When it's all said and done she's a Black African woman. Period.  And it looks like many people still can't handle the reality that this beauty won the competition all while being African.  I ask, who else could've won a competition with that level of grace, natural beauty, humility, spirit and intellect but an African woman?  Who else could've conveyed to millions of girls worldwide that beauty is inside of you.  It's immutable and not something you can change with diet pills or a Wonderbra.  She's not a party-girl bimbo riding on her good looks trying to get in the industry.  She's a bilingual, serious student-scholar looking to improve the lives of her fellow Africans. 

Please world, don't sleep on us.  And this, not 6 months after a Japanese researcher finds that black women are the most unattractive women and has the temerity to provide quantifiable "proof" to back that BS up. But we won't let any negativity take away from the sister's moment and I pray for her to be a continuing shining example of who African women are.