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First Indian-American Wins Miss America

Twitter exploded with racist comments following the crowning of Nina Davuluri as the new Miss America Sunday night.

Posted Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 2:53 pm CT

By Amie Schaenzer

Nina Davuluri became the first Indian-American to be crowned Miss America Sunday night.

The 24-year-old is a native from Fayetteville, New York, whose father emigrated from India 30 years ago, according to CNN.com. Davuluri graduated from the University of Michigan with with a degree in brain behavior and cognitive science and is hoping to be a physician one day, like her father, according to the article.

Twitter exploded following Devuluri's win with racist comments, including some people upset over an Indian-American winning Miss America while others called Devuluri an Arab went so far as to claim she has linked to al-Qaeda or terrorist groups, according to a Buzzfeed article that listed several tweets regarding Davuluri.

Davuluri told the Associated Press she "will rise above" the racist comments and has always viewed herself as "first and foremost American."

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