Support Fair Representation of all Asian cultures in Miss Asia Carolinas pageant

The mission statement for the Miss Asia Carolinas organization states: “Miss Asia Carolinas Pageant serves to promote the Asian culture and heritage, build community cohesiveness and inspire community service amongst young people. The Pageant aims to be a platform for the community to become more aware of the richness and significance of the Asian traditions and cultural values while inspiring a spirit of appreciation of cultural roots that go back thousands of years ago.  It is more of a showcase of Asian Culture rather than a contest!”

We believe that the Miss Asia Carolinas pageant has been unfairly judged and needs to improve on highlighting all Asian American countries, and not ONLY the Philippines.  For 7 out of 10 years, Philippines have won the Miss Asia Carolinas pageant, and now it has become more than just a coincidence.  On May 5, 2012, there were several talented ladies that upheld the mission statement for Miss Asia Carolinas.  However, yet again Philippines took the title away to represent as Miss Asia of the Carolinas. This time it was evident that all of the circumstances surrounding the process were not closely examined.

This petition serves to unite constituents and to insist that the pageant does a righteous representation of ALL Asian Americans of the Carolinas. 

The issues that have arisen were that: 

--It was promised to have official pageant certified judges, however, this was not the case.  Although volunteers were crucial components of the organization, judging of the pageant should have been at a higher level of proficency.
--Requirements—On the morning of the pageant, the winner was an hour and a half late to the mandatory practice.  The remaining participants were unable to practice due to the missing contestant and there was no enforcement to abide by the attendance policy. A responsible adult should have honored the time put forth by the volunteers of the Miss Asia Carolinas committee.
--Talent-- The winner exceeded the 3-minute time limit for the talent portion while the other contestants were to honor the exact rule. No one else received exemptions, but the rules were bent for Miss Philippines.  In addition, she did two conflicting talents (non-cultural singing in English, and then a cultural bamboo dance). Judging should have been on one or the other.
--Interview-- "What it means to be an Asian American to me today is that…I can do more things with it cuz we’re in America…For example, I’m not allowed to have sleepovers. I’m stuck in my house on the weekends"  This is offensive to Asian culture suggesting that the reason to be stuck at home is due to the fact of being Asian.  Several of the other contestants responded with much more poise and substance, indicating the quality of the preparation behind the answer in comparison to the winner’s answer.

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We feel that to be Miss Asia Carolinas, one must exude the characteristics of a role model.  This image posted on Twitter is very offensive to African American culture and is not a kid-friendly image.

Therefore, we believe that this pageant is losing credibility to be able to righteously represent the Asian American cultures and has become skewed towards the Philippines.  The mission statement ensures that the pageant is not a contest.  However, it is difficult to recognize it as a cultural display when many of the contestants who deserved the title of Miss Asia Carolina’s, do not have the opportunity to represent the name of the program.