#OpinionOfTheDay

On beauty queens, black lives and borderless racism

In the film Miss Congeniality (2000), contestants in the Miss United States beauty pageant are asked a question on stage: What is the one thing our society needs?

Flashing their pearly whites, the hopefuls all give the same hackneyed reply: World peace.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 07, 2020, with the headline On beauty queens, black lives and borderless racism. Subscribe