I didn’t watch the Miss America pageant. I didn’t even know who won until this morning. (I was too busy keeping up with news about the shooting at the Washington Navy Yards.)

Of course, Twitter has exploded with racist comments. I will have more to say about the reaction to the new Miss America later. But there is one question from a twit — I mean Twitter user — that deserves an answer.

According to reports, at least on tweet asked an interesting question: 

“WHEN WILL A WHITE WOMAN WIN #MISSAMERICA? Ever??!!” 

It turns out the question was tweeted by a user who was mocking the racist commenters, and has since asked various media outlets to remove the tweet. The sad part is that the tweet could be taken seriously, because so many similar tweets have been quite serious. 

Still, the reason this tweet was intended as a joke can be easily illustrated. The Today Show has a slideshow of Miss America Winners through the years. The slideshow is not embedable, but here’s a YouTube Video of Miss Americas from 1921 to 2013.

Notice anything? Right. The question should probably be, “When hasn’t a white woman won Miss America?” 

There was a time when Miss America was always a white woman, just like the president was always a white man. The times have changed, and the population has changed. Now, popular culture and politics are starting to reflect that change. Clearly, some people miss the old days.