Image courtesy of El Tiempo Hispano
McKoy won the Miss Hispanic Delaware Pageant in Wilmington, Delaware in late August, but after questions were raised about her Hispanic ancestry, no prove was provided by parents.
By H. Nelson Goodson
September 27, 2013
Wilmington, Delaware - On August 31, Jakiyah McKoy, 7, of Wilmington was selected as Miss Hispanic Delaware, but her reign didn't last long after questions were raised about her Hispanic ancestry. She was chosen as the winner from seven other young contestants.
According to El Tiempo Hispano, McKoy had to at least prove she had a 25% Hispanic ethnicity to Nuestras Raices Delaware, the sponsor of the pageant.
McKoy's mother was given opportunity to provide proof of her daughter's ethnicity, but had failed to do so, according to Maria Perez from Nuestras Raices Delaware organization. McKoy gets her 25% Hispanic ethnicity from her grandmother who was undocumented and is now deceased. Her grandmother is originally from the province of Vega in the Dominican Republic.
Perez says, that everything was done to get any type of documentation of her grandmother's ancestry, but she is not recorded as deceased in any state nearby. McKoy's mother birth certificate should say where her grandmother was from and ethnicity, Perez explained.
McKoy's mother decided to forego her burden to provide any proof about her daughter's ethnicity and the organization disqualified McKoy for lack of prove of ethnicity.
McKoy lives with her father in Wilmington and her mother resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Meriana Ayala, the first runner-up was crowned Miss Hispanic Delaware after McKoy was disqualified, the second runner-up was Eleiana Santiago. Perez says, it's not the first time that a contestant can't prove her ethnicity in the pageant.
Rumors began to spread that McKoy was not Hispanic enough, but Black, which contributed to her being ousted from her reign. Those rumors are believed to have been initiated and spread by the McKoy family, according to Perez.
