[imagesource:x/shinemycrown]
Social media in Zimbabwe recently went into meltdown after a white woman, Brooke Bruk-Jackson, won the Miss Universe Zimbabwe competition in Harare in September.
The 21-year-old blonde will be representing Zimbabwe at the 72nd Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador later this month, but far from being proud, some Zimbabweans are spitting fire.
Immediately after her crowning, Zimbabwean internet roared to life in protest against a white woman being chosen to represent an African country, with some commentators going as far as to say she was “ugly” and not even Zimbabwean.
It was the first time in 22 years that the competition was held in the country, and also Bruk-Jackson’s first pageant after having worked as a model all over the world, including Cape Town. Despite the lady being born in Harare, there was however no chill for her pale skin on TikTok, Instagram and X as the comments varied between shocked and outright racist:
“No, this is not Miss Zimbabwe. This is more like Miss Rhodesia!”
“The white people in my comments saying” diversity this diversity that” can go smd miss universe Zimbabwe should a been a black Zimbabwen and u can’t tell me otherwise”
“Mugabe would be so mad!”
Some of Miss Universe Zimbabwe’s supporters at least attempted to see beyond the local noise.
In 2018 Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers won the Miss Universe GB competition. White people did not go mad & were generally quite civil about it. Brooke Bruk-Jackson, a white woman just won Miss Universe Zimbabwe & many blacks are making this racial. I am on the verge of giving up. FFS. pic.twitter.com/7dGLYtNojj
— The Black Opinion (@opinion_black) September 17, 2023
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Not tone-deaf, Bruk-Jackson addressed the colour of her skin immediately after the ceremony.
“One of my biggest things is no matter what country you come from, if you come from an African country for example, you can enter no matter what color you are. You can be from any culture, any background, nobody should define you by your color, by the way you look, or by the shape of your body.”
Brooke was born in Harare and studied at Chispite Senior School before graduating from the British Academy of Fashion Design in London. From 2022, she has been signed with the Cape Town modelling agency Boss Models.
[source:newsweek&sportskeeda]
