A Black Rose Picked in Philly

By Georgina Brennan

IN a historic decision, the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Committee has chosen their first African American candidate for the Kerry festival. 

Sinead deRoiste, 25, a Penn State graduate and daughter of an Irishman and African-American woman, will be the first black Rose contestant in the 45-year history of the contest.

DeRoiste, who lives in Harrisburg with her mother Leah Roche, spends most of her summers in Co. Cork with her father, ex-Army lieutenant Donal, who is from Co. Tipperary.

Her parents separated when she was a child, meaning she and her brother Dara had two childhoods, an American and an Irish one. 

No stranger to the public eye — Sinead’s aunt is Adi Roche, founder of the Chernobyl Children’s Project in Ireland and subject of a documentary which won an Oscar this year — the deRoistes are looking forward to the ceremony in August.

“I am so excited,” Sinead said when she was chosen. Then she burst into tears. 

The crowning was broadcast on Philadelphia’s Channel 6 news on Sunday. Though illness prevented her mother from attending the crowning, deRoiste was not short on support with her brother and sister and aunts and uncles present for her crowning.

DeRoiste said she was glad to be bringing some color to the competition. “I am looking forward to any questions about me that come up in the competition. I am Irish and I am African American and I am the first bi-cultural contestant. I have been living as a bicultural person for 25 years and I’ve never felt uncomfortable, I’ve learned to love me for me,” she told the Irish Voice.

The straight-talking young woman, who says the Rose of Tralee is a dream come true, was full of pride at being chosen. 

“I was so proud to have been chosen I was beside myself with joy. I was accepted for who I was. It’s not a beauty pageant it’s a heritage pageant, and it’s a privilege to be chosen for it.” 

DeRoiste says she is prepared for questions about her background. But, she says it’s all in a days work for a pageant contestant. 

“If you participate in a pageant, you are showcasing yourself. I am showcasing myself. I think that the diversity that my cultures bring to the pageant is interesting,” she says.

“I am reflection of my parents love, a product of their separate cultures. I am thrilled that an Irish man and African American woman fell so much in love and went against the odds and got married and had two children. I always was proud of who I was I didn’t know how not to be me and my parents always tried encourage that.” 

DeRoiste, who plans to read poetry or sing “Danny Boy” for her talent segment, said the competition is all about inner beauty and inner Irishness. “It’s so not the typical pageant, to see who has the longest legs and sexiest body. It’s to see who really knows what being Irish is all about, and see who can convey that to others,” she feels.

“If you look at American history, the blacks and the Irish have so much more in common than you could imagine in terms of the struggle to be accepted,” she said. 

Speaking to the Irish Voice, judge Mae O’Driscoll said deRoiste was chosen out of a tremendous group of girls because she was wonderful. “It’s not about beauty or the color of your skin, it’s about the contribution,” said O’Driscoll.