Miss Botswana Mpule Kwelagobe. Photo Credit: Captured off CBS TV Broadcast	African Wins Miss Universe Competition, Again! By Grisso* I don't need to check the record to know that this is the first time in the history of the Miss Universe Pageant that one woman of African descent has succeeded another. This year's winner is Miss Botswana, 19 year-old Mpule Kwelagobe. She succeeds Wendy Fitzwilliam from Trinidad and Tobago, who, when she won last year, was reported as being only the second Black woman to have won the Miss Universe pageant. I don't normally pay any attention to beauty pageants, so when Wendy Fitzwilliam won last year, I missed it. This year I had to watch, because the event was staged in my home country of Trinidad and Tobago, and I wanted to see how my country would be portrayed, and how well they would pull it off. Rather well, I thought, on both counts. But there is somthing else that moves me to write. The contest result could not have been more laden in symbolism had it been scripted. The final three contestants were an African, an Asian, and a European. Along with Miss Botswana in the top three were Miss Philippines, Miriam Quiambao, and Miss Spain, Diana Nogueria. In a result evocative of biblical prophecy, which states that the last shall be first, and the first shall be last, the final result placed the European at the bottom, the African at the top, and the Asian in the middle. It does seem after all that the world is changing. From among the top five, Miss South Africa, Sonia Raciti, and Miss Venezuela, Carolina Indriago, failed to make it to the final round. There is a story there too. Miss Venezuela was the first overtly African beauty to represent that country, seemingly over the objections of many of her own people who would have preferred, well, someone white, to represent their country. As it was, she was more peanut than ebony. But overcoming centuries of conditionings is a slow process. The first "Black" Miss Universe, Ms. Janelle "Penny" Commissiong -- who, by the way, also hails from Trinidad and Tobago -- also was peanut-colored, proving my point that this kind of progress takes place in stages. In America, of course, the barrier there, in the context of the Miss America pageant, was broken by yet another "peanut", Ms. Vanessa Williams. If I'm not mistaken, other sisters, darker-skinned, have since followed in her footsteps. If that general trend line is indicative, the South African "delegate", interestingly, was of European extraction, Italian apparently. This, from a country where the Europeans are a small minority. This reminded me of my own country, and no doubt so many other former colonies. Right after independence, it remained the case for a long time that our delegates, too, would be white or at least light-skinned. No doubt, South Africa is adhering to the same pattern, which fact is reflected so obviously in its choice of delegate. The further, related, point may be made that the ending of apartheid should not be viewed as a final victory in the war against racial injustice in that country -- just as years of independence in Trinidad and Tobago and other former colonies (China and India perhaps excepted) have not brought with them any radical change in the racial ordering of the distribution of wealth in the society. Apartheid meant the repeal of sanctions, therefore South African companies, all white owned, have emerged from the cage of sanctions to which they had been consigned. They now dominate major consumer markets all over Africa, and particularly in the "front-line" states immediately adjacent to it, and their exports, wine for example, now enjoy access to world markets previously denied them. Their almost all-white cricket and rugby teams can once again compete internationally. And meanwhile, no reparations have been paid, or even demanded, for the centuries of land theft and labor theft which lie at the foundation of ill-gotten white wealth in South Africa. There has been so little change in the social order there that they think nothing of sending a white delegate to the Miss Universe pageant, and the world accepts her as the delegate of a "free" South Africa. There is, indeed, more to a pageant than just pretty faces. The pageant's judges included Evander Holyfield, the boxing champion, and Bruce Smith, former NFL player. Evander was the most generous of all the judges, which meant he kept getting knocked out all night...the scoring system required the highest and lowest scores entered by the judges to be discarded, and the rest averaged. All the other judges were white, with fashion models and photographers well represented, along with a restauranteur, whose qualification for the job...is it that he can spot tender meat?... was left to the imagination. In the case of Evander Holyfield, we were told what his qualification was ... he was a "real" man. Perhaps his manly hormones were in overdrive... I think his lowest score for the evening, on a 10-point scale, was 9.00! Miss Spain was leading going into the final round, having won on swimsuit and evening gown. She wore a remarkable evening gown, which was cut in the back all the way down to below her waist line. Of the three finalists, Miss Spain was the first to be asked this tough question: "If, during her reign, Miss Universe were to become pregnant, do you believe she should be allowed to continue?" She attempted to say, basically, yes, but allowed her answer to trail off, somewhat inarticulately. Miss Philippines then followed. (She and Miss Botswana were prevented from hearing the question until each had their turn.) Her answer, basically, was that it would depend. Her answer was reasonable enough, but equally as important was the manner in which it was given. She choked. Not real badly, but as one of the commentators put it, she "clammed up". Even so, she recovered quickly, and treated us to an adorable smile that was bright yet demure, warm yet shy, gracious yet vulnerable. That combination made her a crowd favorite in Trinidad and Tobago, which gave her a standing ovation at one of the preliminary shows where, apparently, she stumbled and fell, but came back up, poise intact, sweetness intact, to completely charm the audience. She did it again last night. But Miss Botswana could not be denied. Her answer was forceful, direct, and without hesitation. She said, "Personally, I think it should not in any way interrupt her duties. The Miss Universe is a celebration of femininity, and having a child is definitely a celebration of a woman's femininity." Unlike Miss Spain, she did not trail off, and unlike Miss Philippines, she didn't choke even a little. The crowd erupted in shouts of approval, and it started to dawn that this might be the winner. She is indeed a beautiful woman, tall, regal, lithe and graceful as a leopard. The fashion models and photographers on the judging panel were sure to have been impressed with this particular kind of African beauty. She wants to be an electronic engineer, but the fashion world is sure to beckon. Move over, Naomi, make room for Mpule! But it was her sass, not her beauty, that took her over the top. The African woman has always had the gift of "sass", while the Asian has been constrained by modesty, and the European has often had her "voice" taken away, even as she has been pedestalized, such as in these very pageants. That's exactly what played out in the final round, with a symbolism that could not have been weightier had it been scripted. Perhaps the day will come, when we will all be free to strut our respective stuff, to celebrate the different ways in which we all have been gifted by the Creator... and when articles such as this, that see more in a beauty pageant than meets the eye, would become quaint and unnecessary. In the meantime, the struggle continues, and some signs are encouraging. Grisso *(Grisso is a 48 year old African of the diaspora. He has an engineering PhD, and is the author of a mathematical treatise on decision analysis under uncertainty. His email address is grisso@TheAfrican.Com).