Miss USA Rima Fakih Could Change Perceptions of Arab-Americans
The crowning of Lebanese-American Rima Fakih as Miss USA has a greater impact beyond serving as fodder for entertainment shows.
On Friday's "Washington Unplugged," CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate discussed Fakih's impact with Correspondent Bob Orr -- a topic that's "off-beat" for Zarate's usually serious "Flash Points" weekly series.
As Zarate notes, "The story of Rima Fakih is a great American success story. The first Arab-American Muslim women to win the Miss USA title."
There are a couple of reasons why this is important in a National Security context , Zarate explained.
"We're at a point where the Muslim American community has felt besieged with all of these terrorism cases involving American Muslims. There have been negative feelings in the [Muslim] community of the image of American Muslims. Not only in the U.S., but abroad." he said. "This really breaks with it in a fairly dramatic and sexy way. In a way that gives the community a sense of pride."
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Fakih's win also take a shot at what extremists abroad are trying to achieve, message wise.
"What this event does is it creates a divide between that extremist message and the American-Muslim community. They have a great deal of pride to heave one of their own, a woman from Dearborn, Michigan born in Lebanon ascend to a point of being recognized as one of the most beautiful women in America and representing America," Zarate added.
Watch Friday's "Washington Unplugged" above, which also features author Wes Moore on his new book, "The Other Wes Moore" and Dr. Jane Goodall and musician Dave Matthews on the importance of protecting the environment and why politicians can't be trusted to work for the people.
"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.