Since its inception in 1921, The Miss America pageant has crowned nine women of color-eight African-Americans (beginning with Vanessa Williams in 1984) and one Asian-American. The 2004 winner-Ericka Dunlap, a 21-year-old beauty from Orlando, Florida, who entered her first pageant at age six-is the most recent.

As is required of each Miss America, Dunlap is using her crown to further a cause close to her heart. Through numerous speaking engagements and projects, she will commit to and promote her cause during her year-long reign. Her platform is "United We Stand. Divided We Fall: Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion."

While being African-American herself, many assume she chose this platform based on her personal race, but she is quick to point out this isn't true. "I chose my platform three years ago-actually it

The numbers certainly illustrate this diversity. America continues to become increasingly diverse with each subsequent generation. The Census Bureau reveals that in 2000, more than 28 million people living in

the United States were born in other countries, a 44 percent increase since 1990. But diversity doesn't necessarily mean acceptance, and Dunlap wants to help change that. "Many people talk about achieving 'tolerance' in the world, but I'm trying to work against that word," says Dunlap. "I think if you 'tolerate' something, it means you're merely 'dealing' with it. In a sense, it becomes a negative word. We need to work towards the terms 'acceptance' and 'understanding' instead."

Dunlap also explains that "acceptance" needs to spread far beyond black-white race issues, and far beyond race in general. "America isn't just black and white, so I don't approach my platform from just a racial standpoint," she says. "It's about uplifting everyone -people of all varied religious beliefs, sexual orientations, class differences, cultural diversities, and the like."

Indeed, many people do regard race as the most important issue, mainly because they have a problem seeing past race. Dunlap explains that for many years she was the only African-American girl in her classes and she often found herself correcting stereotypes and media images of black people. But she saw the opportunity to help dispel such ignorance and celebrate the diversity within her school.

One way she achieved this was through music. As a young girl, Dunlap always loved country music and to sing. She used her exceptional singing voice (honed with a karaoke machine her parents bought her at age 11) to help break down racial stereotypes of being an African-American woman embracing and singing country music. In fact, she's performed at the prestigious Grand Ole Opry's Opryland USA in Nashville, Tennessee, country twang and all.

"Our biases and bigotries are taught, whether it's the media, our parents or other sources," says Dunlap. "And those teachings are very hard to erase. You have to start at an early age to eliminate them."

To that end, Dunlap is in the process of creating a Cultural Awareness Activity

	Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap's Upcoming Engagements
	FEBRUARY 14th, 2004 - DAYTONA, FL Daytona 500
	FEBRUARY 19th, 2004 - HOUSTON, TX Chevron Texaco
	FEBRUARY 21th, 2004 - ATLANTIC CITY, NJ Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority
	FEBRUARY 24th, 2004 - OCEAN CITY, NJ Ocean City Intermediate School
	FEBRUARY 26th, 2004 - CINCINNATI, OH University of Cincinnati
	FEBRUARY 27th, 2004 - SANDUSKY, OH Perkins HS
	MARCH 4th, 2004 - BIRMINGHAM, AL NCCJ (National Conference of Community & Justice)