|
Miss
Black USA takes moral stand
By Melissa Rake
Lisa Miree has an agenda, and she’s using her newly acquired
tiara and satin sash to forward it whenever she can. Crowned Miss
Black USA in March, Miree’s message is abstinence before marriage,
a challenging platform to push these days.
 |
| Lisa
Miree, BSJ ’97 and MA ’00, is Miss Black USA. |
But Miree,
BSJ ’97 and MA ’00, doesn’t see her message as outdated,
only forgotten.
“Some young people I’ve talked to have never heard the
words abstinence or celibacy,” says the 24-year-old. “My
goal this year as Miss Black USA is to package abstinence and make
it attractive.”
Before the end of her reign, Miree wants to lead a march on Washington,
D.C., to denounce premarital sex and drug and alcohol abuse. Her
strong stance is rooted in health issues, such as teen-age pregnancy
and sexually transmitted diseases, and morals.
“It’s important for me to save myself for marriage. It
goes back to my mom telling me to respect myself,” she says.
“Young people need to focus on their education and goals and
not get caught up in all the issues associated with sex. Why deal
with that?”
At Ohio University, she immersed herself in campus activities, including
leadership roles in the University Hearing Board, University Singers,
Faces of Modeling Club, Student Senate and the Black Student Communication
Caucus. Miree earned her bachelor’s in journalism in just three
years and, soon after, a master’s in international affairs/communication
development. Dual Ohio University degrees aren’t unusual in
the Miree family: brothers David, BSSP ’90 and MSPE ’91,
and Chris, AB ’95 and MAPA ’96, share the credentials.
Miree’s college experiences prepped her for the Miss Black
Cincinnati pageant, which she won in April 2000. That title qualified
her for the Miss Black USA pageant in Birmingham, Ala. There, she
bowled over judges with her impassioned message and a unique talent
segment that combined her skills as an actor, poet, vocalist and
pianist.
“I just wish I could have thrown in dance,” she says.
While working as an associate producer and researcher at WCPO-Channel
9 in her native Cincinnati and doing some nonfiction writing —
including a project chronicling three months she spent in Costa
Rica for the United Nations — she says she plans to keep pushing
her cause. She’s developed a Web site (www.crowncrusade.com)
that explains her mission.
“I have my challenges,” she says. “There are people
who don’t want to hear my message, but this title allows me
to get into venues where I can talk to teens,” she says. “There
is power in the crown.”
Melissa Rake is assistant editor of Ohio Today.
|
