'Race does not determine beauty'

Entertainment | 2021-02-04 by Rinelda Mouton

OUTGOING Miss Namibia Nadja Breytenbach recently received much attention from the international community.

This came after The Namibian posted a video of Breytenbach talking about her year as Miss Namibia and her future plans on social media.Some commentators were not impressed by the fact that Breytenbach is not black, and others complained about her physical appearance.

Comments included “Miss Namibia is a white woman”, “She is not cute”, and “Why are the Germans still in Namibia?”.

Breytenbach was not willing to comment on the matter. “After being updated on what's been happening, I would rather not feed any negativity. Pageantry is about uplifting and supporting women of all ages and races. I am looking forward to doing more interviews to support this,” she said.

Umbi Karuaihe-Upi, the national director of the Miss Namibia competition, expressed her disappointment over the incident, saying she was shocked by the lack of knowledge of some Namibians. “These are ignorant comments. We are a multicultural country and it's sad to see many people don't know this. We do not only have black and white people, but many different races. So, why should only a certain race win the Miss Namibia pageant?” she said.

Karuaihe-Upi urged people to do research on Namibia and the pageant before commenting. “When you look at the pageant's history, you will see that women from different races have won the title thus far. Beauty is not determined by a certain race. We are all beautiful,” she said.

Karuaihe-Upi said cyberbullying will always exist, and the organisers of the competition are constantly finding ways to prepare contestants for this. “People on social media will always write whatever they want to. We cannot stop them. We urge contestants to be strong and grow a thick skin. No one can control what people write on social media, but you can control how you react. When you step into the limelight people will always judge you, so always be prepared for criticism,” she said.

She said winners are selected based on a pageantry guide, and it is not fair to criticise someone simply because they are not your favourite.

Karuaihe-Upi said Namibia should embrace diversity. “We are all different. Let's find the things that unite us, and not divide us. Let's find the beauty of our different cultures,” she said.

https://www.namibian.com.na/98623/read/Race-does-not-determine-beauty