Ebony Oceania: beauty pageant celebrates cultural diversity

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Beauty pageant celebrates diversity

3News NZ

Beautiful black people – that's what the competition is all about

Beautiful black people – that's what the competition is all about

By Jesse Peach

A brand new beauty pageant, Ebony Oceania, was launched in Auckland today, and it's one with a difference – it aims to celebrate cultural diversity.

Beautiful people from all nationalities – that's what the competition is about.

“It's for people of colour,” says Ebony Oceania organiser Bola Harppracht. “Ah, you could be mixed race.”

The organiser say it's about celebrating diversity however, and that people from all races and nationalities are welcome to enter.

“I've done Miss World New Zealand. I was the only black chick there at the time. I was thinking ‘oh my gosh where's everybody else?’ And I tried to get everybody on board but they all thought ‘oh my Lord I'm not going to win anyway because I don't look New Zealander’ and I felt the same.”

“Beauty culture diversity all here in New Zealand – I think it's time we celebrate that and I'm all for it,” says Ebony Oceania ambassador Megan Alatini.

The organisers are surprised by the attention they've drawn by creating the event.

“If I was racist I wouldn't marry a white man!” jokes Ms Harpprecht.

“A lot of beauty pageants out there are not about celebrating who you are,” says the organiser. “It's about how you look – skinny, fat, short, tall – you are all welcome.”

Watch the video for all the glamour from Ebony Oceania.

3 News

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Comments

22/09/2012 11:49:37 p.m.

... wrote:

Lol either join the event or don't show up. Simple.

22/09/2012 12:04:19 p.m.

Carly wrote:

@ Jeff - Have you ever stopped to wonder why they wear hair extensions before you get on your high horse? Do you have any idea how thick afro hair is and how hard it is to maintain? I straighten my hair because if I don'T I actually can't get a comb through it! I have broken combs before... no kidding! Straightening my hair chemically every 3 months means that I don't have to dedicate an hour every day to try and untangle the birds nest that is my natural hair. Same for most of the girls that have the extensions in. It's far easier to have that and actually be able to just get up and go in the morning... than to spend a wasted hour each day on hair. Doing these things means I can spend time doing things that actually matter! Life is far to short!

20/09/2012 2:40:25 p.m.

Cocoa Puff wrote:

Shame on you people for making this look like a racial issue and putting wrong words into the mouth of people who are trying to give these beauties a chance they can not get in many contests because of their height,weight,size and what ever is considered in many contests.Mind you people of colour,COLOUR includes white too.

19/09/2012 5:38:53 p.m.

Tina wrote:

This event is not about colour, i'm sorry little old new zealand has a problem with it. this samll tiny country has a small mixed kiwi and everything else mixed in so what's the point of venting your hate ( behind) PC. it's not able who looks better than the next. this event is simply for all the young women to have a place to show their talent and have fun! it's not able what hair style you have. i mean really?.. surly you can see how many real blondes are walking around auckland?? i don't think so. Like at the tanning salons working all year round! it's true TV3 needs ratings and this is a way to get it. This is a very nice country with lot's of different people living here. this is an international city?? i'm not sure about that, it's more like mid- mid west USA!... i'm sure you people aren't going to the event and most likely don't have coloured friends so what's the point of hating so much.. Just be happy with your looks ( if you can) and move on!!

19/09/2012 12:51:27 p.m.

Ronnie wrote:

Oh come ON Kay!! If someone created a Miss "Causasian Oceania" competition there would be an outcry, and you, me and everyone else know its true. Why did these women not enter their local Miss World NZ comps? Some areas have only one entry so they're automatically in the final. And imagine if ALL of them entered....they would outnumber the 'caucasian' girls and one would most probably win IF they deserved to. I'm a kiwi woman - NZ born and bred. Oh no, and I'm a dreaded 'caucasian'. I'm sick of people telling me how I SHOULD feel or DO feel about different races. Look at us nasty 'caucasians' (it's become a dirty word in this country) going to all extremes to get a tan year 'round. What does that say to you? It's cliche but true - beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. AND we're all individuals on the inside and the outside.

19/09/2012 10:40:39 a.m.

shadoe wrote:

Well said Fiona, I commented to my wife that anyone with half a brain could see why this WASN'T racist (white beauty being the norm), alas from most of these hillbilly comments, I can see I overestimated the brain percentage.

19/09/2012 9:47:42 a.m.

Jefferson wrote:

Another polarising event...why don't we just create seperate events and functions for all the different ethnicities that exist in NZ....then no-one will be left out...YOU ARE MOVING BACKWARDS.. there's nothing progressive about this! AND if this was about authenticity...ask those "models" to remove their "fake" hair and be themselves!!!!! Aren't they striving to be "white" with their hair straighteners and hair implants???? What's natural and "pure" about that? GET REAL!!!

17/09/2012 8:09:21 p.m.

Fiona wrote:

There's a good reason why arguments of 'if you made an all-white competition you'd be thrown in the stocks" are silly. That reason is that white people have been held up as the standard, normal idea of beauty (and almost every other kind of ideal except for 'exotic') for centuries, often viciously and forcefully so. Little girls of colour (and Caucasian, too) in the USA almost unanimously chose the blonde/white doll when asked to point to the prettier/nicer/smarter looking doll in the line-up. Black girls in the west are only in the last few decades clawing their way up to more universal acceptance as really, truly, unashamedly beautiful, not as a novelty, not as the token black girl in the show, not dressed up as a Masai even though the model is from Trinidad, etc... The competition is about a specific aesthetic, same as most any pageant. You might as well argue that a pageant for plus-sized women is sizist against slimmer women, or that a "miss teen ___" pageant is ageist. Shows like these exist because there is a valid place for them still (unlike an all-white pageant to boost confidence and provide a platform for all the sad marginalised white women who only exist in fantasy reverse-racism-land).

17/09/2012 5:59:51 p.m.

skylar wrote:

This is not about apartheid people! This shows that if nz is so multi cultural, That they should embrace that fact. Just by looking at your comments, racism is seathing through. Let people feel like they are worth it and if tbis is the way.. It is what it is

17/09/2012 5:50:29 p.m.

KAY wrote:

Ohh shut your pie holes ! There's nothing wrong in having a competition for Ebony people! If you're so saddened about it go off and create all-white competition but be sure to name it Causasian Oceania. And guess what? There's nothing wrong with that too!!!! U're simply celebrating your people just as Ebony Oceania is simply celerating the ebonies! Kiwis can be sooo PC sometimes it's skin-crawling!