Marcia and Millie are twins, although when they say it, people are surprised because they are so different. So different that one has white skin and the other black. One is blonde and the other brunette. One has light eyes and the other dark.
The two sisters have starred in the latest issue of National Geographic magazine, entitled "The racial challenge" for the unusualness of their case. Not surprisingly, there is only one birth of these characteristics for every million twin births. And sometimes, genetics can be very capricious!
Same and different
Marcia and Millie are 11 years old and are daughters of an interracial couple. His mother, Amanda, is from England and his father, Michael, has Jamaican offspring and they claim that when they fell in love they had to overcome many obstacles in order to be together.
Their twins were born in 2006 and although they both looked very much like each other, their skin color was totally different. A whim of genetics that occurs on exceptional occasions and that leaves no one indifferent.
"When they were babies and I carried them in the stroller, people looked at me and then looked at the girls: first to one and then to another. And then came the question: Are they twins? - Amanda remembers -" And when I answered them Yes, they were surprised and said, "But one is white and the other is black"! and I replied that it was a matter of genes. "
Amanda claims that people's questions were not malicious or judicious but simple curiosity. And, as she defines her daughters: "They are a miracle among a million".
Some time ago we tell you how these types of births happen, but the geneticist, Alicia Martín, explains it clearly and forcefully in the article: the twins born of an interracial couple they don't have only two possibilities when it comes to their skin color but "each one has a degree of color in the total spectrum".
This turns this type of birth into something impressive and beautiful. A whim of nature and genes, worthy of admiration.The racial challenge
The April issue of the magazine is dedicated to the issue of race, and in its editorial, the editor of the magazine Susan Goldberg, confesses that in the past National Geographic had a racist coverage.
"Until the 1970s he basically ignored people of color living in the United States, rarely identifying them as anything other than domestic workers or employees. Indigenous people from different parts of the world were portrayed as" exotic "or as" happy hunters and wild nobles ". All kinds of clichés" - he writes.
But over time the magazine was changing its vision and in fact, the April special is just a starting point that will give rise to different stories about the evolution of the identities of ethnic, religious and racial groups.
When they ask the twin protagonists of the cover what racism is, the two are clear: "Racism is judge someone by their skin color and not by how it really is"says Millie. Marcia describes racism as "something negative, which can damage people's feelings".
Their parents affirm that throughout their youth they had to face numerous comments and racist behaviors, although they admit that luckily their daughters did not, and that when people look at them they only see beauty in them.
When asking girls about their differences, they don't hesitate to answer: "Millie likes girls' things, and the color pink. I don't like the color pink. I'm completely different from her. Every person is the way she is.". And these sisters have it clear: their skin color is not what differentiates them, nor what should differentiate people.
Via National Geographic
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