LIDO

It was awkward. Cringe-inducing. Meme-worthy. And a mistake. But above all, for many Colombians, Steve Harvey erroneously crowning and then de-crowning their country’s beauty queen during the 2015 Miss Universe contest quite simply amounted to a declaration of war.¹ The TV mishap, whereby Colombia (well, Miss Colombia) lost a beauty title it never really earned to the Philippines (well, Miss Philippines), sent shockwaves through the South American nation, unveiling the dark underbelly of misguided pageant nationalism. For weeks, overtly racist comments about Harvey, who is African American, and Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, the Filipino Miss Universe, were commonplace. For producer-singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta, the debacle was a wake-up call. Though she had left her native Barranquilla for...