Social media erupted in excitement when Zozibini Tunzi, a dark skinned, natural-haired woman from South Africa, took home the crown as Miss Universe 2019 last. Saturday.
But the pageant did not occur without controversy. During the costume portion of the competition, Miss Jamaica Universe, Iana Olivia Tickle Garcia, modeled a dress named Annie Palmer — Legend of Rose Hall. Once the photos of her costume were released on social media, the people of Jamaica were outraged because Annie Palmer is historically known as a murderous slave owner in the island.
Known through Jamaica’s folklore as “Annie Palmer the white witch,” Annie Palmer lived in the early 1800s and resided in her inherited estate known as Rose Hall.
She is remembered by the people of Jamaica as a tyrant who tortured and raped the enslaved Africans who labored on her plantation. The enslaved were so fearful of her that after her death they refused to burn the Rose Hall as they did most other estates during the slave rebellion because they believed that burning the house down would release Annie’s spirit from the property, freeing it to go wherever it chooses.
So Rose Hall stood for centuries abandoned until it was renovated and presented as a popular attraction for tourists and locals. One of the pulls of the mansion is the tour where visitors are told the story of the evil Annie Palmer.
The glorification of a slave master
It must be noted that the history of Annie Palmer is widely contested, but regardless of how accurate it is, Annie Palmer’s story has had a significant cultural and historical impact on Jamaica. It reminds us that many enslaved Africans were brutally treated by their oppressors.
So when Rose Hall’s Twitter page posted photos of Tickle Garcia wearing her costume with the caption, “Miss Universe Jamaica’s Costume Name: Annie Palmer — Legend of Rose Hall. Iana Tickle Garcia is rocking this!” It is within reason why many Africans in Jamaica were in uproar.
It is a slap in the face to the black people of the country for Tickle, Rose Hall and the Miss Universe committee to glorify a slave owner. Europe and the white world owes much of its wealth to the enslavement of African people in Jamaica and the subsequent creation of the exploitative system known as capitalism.
It is unacceptable to glorify a figure who is remembered as a vile slave master, when there are people like Nanny of the Maroons, Marcus Garvey, Samuel Sharpe, and others who deserve to be honored for the work that they did to challenge slavery and unite African people.
Miss Universe committee calls critics uncivilized
To add salt to our wounds, instead of providing Jamaica with a swift and sincere apology for their offensive costume, the Miss Universe Jamaica organization wrote up a lengthy explanation defending it and even went as far as insulting the people of Jamaica as uncivilized.
In a Facebook post made last Monday they said, “Iana Tickle Garcia, our reigning Miss Universe Jamaica has been viciously attacked on social media for wearing the costume…This is unacceptable…She is being bashed, demonized and vilified. This is not the action of a civilized people and Iana does not deserve the abuse she has been receiving.”
Any vilification or bashing that Tickle Garcia receives is well deserved just based on the unpleasant history that this costume celebrates.
The “beauty” queen had another unsavory approach to her critics. She said in a since deleted tweet that she won’t be ‘wasting time’ giving attention to people who have criticisms of her costume. It’s interesting that Tickle Garcia thinks that addressing the people of the country, that she’s now representing, who have genuine criticism of her costume as a waste of time.
When they saw her response, Twitter put on their detective hats to sift through her tweets and, unsurprisingly, more eye-rolling tweets were discovered.
“I’m not black”
In a post that she made back in July, Tickle Garcia expresses that she identifies as mixed, not black, or white. Her post read: “I hate when people try to call me black, or white, cause calling me black is ignoring one parent and calling me white does the same. I’m just mixed and I don’t have to be one or the other.”
Tickle can call herself mixed if she pleases. She can even consider herself a cockatoo if she wants but the reality is that historically white people would literally sell their children into slavery, especially those with her skin tone. And to the present, white people have consolidated themselves to the extent that any “mixed person” is not considered white, and in her case, is treated as black.
African people, on the other hand, have never abandoned any person with a drop of African blood. Tickle is only significant because she is a light skinned African with white blood living in an oppressed country made up of 95 percent Africans who unfortunately believe that light skin is beautiful hence the still prevalent practice of skin bleaching on the island.
We want an apology!
Ultimately the people are still owed a proper apology from Iana Tickle Garcia and the Miss Jamaica Universe organization for reinforcing the same slave narrative of 150 years ago.
The petty bourgeoisie committee revered a white woman for her social status and resulting power instead of attempting to destroy a colonial system that would select a Miss Jamaica that doesn’t look like the rest of the African population, and hold up this tragic mulatto as she imitates the slave master.
