Which Member of the Rainbow Coalition Will be Queen?

No, I'm not talking about race hustler Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, but the group of ladies vying for this year's Rose Parade Queen (from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune):

The 2010 Tournament of Roses Royal Court, from left; Ashley Thaxton, 17, Kinsey Stuart, 18, Katherine Hernandez, 18, Michelle Van Wyk, 17, Natalie Innocenzi, June Ko, 17, and Lauren Rogers, 17. (Keith Durflinger / Staff Photographer)

I always kind of laugh when I see this picture every year. You could probably look at every Rose Court photo for the last 20 or 30 years and see the very same racial mix. There's always at least one African-American, one Hispanic, one Asian, one Caucasian, and then whoever else they feel is worthy of the position. If they had any Eskimos in Pasadena they'd probably have one of those too. They're very careful at the Tournament of Roses that they don't slight any particular ethnic group.

For the record this year's Rose Queen is Miss Innocenzi, third from the right.

Based on their bios my choice would have been Miss Thaxton (first lady on the left):

Ashley is a part of her school’s marching band and her church worship team. She is passionate about musical theatre and plans to pursue it as a career. She hopes to obtain her masters in education and teach theatre and music in a public school or with a nonprofit organization.

You can't go wrong with a marching band kid who wants to teach music. I've got one of those myself.