Sisters Who Looked Almost Identical at Birth Grow Up to Have Different Skin Colors

When a person has a set of twins, they expect them to look somewhat alike. When a multiracial couple has children, they anticipate the dominant genes to take control. Genetics, on the other hand, does not always follow the “rules.” These identical twin sisters are a fantastic illustration of this. Meet Marcia and Millie Briggs, biracial twins who are one in a million.

Marcia and Millie Briggs are fraternal twins born in England via IVF procedures to multiracial parents. Their parents said that they appeared practically similar when they were born. Their mother, however, began to notice that their daughters’ complexions were changing around the age of ten months. Millie’s complexion was the first thing she noticed, and it was growing darker and darker.

Marcia and Millie are now adolescents and are sometimes mistaken for best friends rather than sisters. Marcia is a fair-skinned woman with blue eyes and blonde hair. Millie, on the other hand, has a darker complexion, stands a little taller, and has brown eyes. Her hair is black and has the same texture as Marcia’s.

Many of us are unsure whether or not this is even feasible. Alicia Martin, a postdoctoral research scholar at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, explains. Race and skin tone aren’t always as closely linked as we’d like to believe. Skin color, according to Martins, is not a binary feature.

She explained, “It’s a quantitative feature.” “On this spectrum, everyone has a gradient.”

Dr. Nancy L Segal goes on to say that our skin tone is determined by a number of different genes.

“It’s possible that one child receives specific genes from both parents, while the other inherits genes from the other parent.” “That explains the various skin tones,” she explained. “It’s similar to how ordinary fraternal twins might appear to be utterly different. They simply inherit distinct sets of genes, with one child inheriting the lighter genes and the other inheriting the darker.”

The two were featured on the front cover of National Geographic’s race issue in 2018. The issue’s focus was on race and how it defines, separates, and unites people. Naturally, the twins have caused many of us to reconsider all we thought we knew about race and what it entails.

“Racism is when someone assesses you based on your skin color rather than your true self,” Millie, the darker-skinned twin, explained. “I prefer to stand out. You don’t have to blend in with the crowd all of the time because you won’t be recognized if you do. It’s preferable to be yourself.”

Marcia says she and her sister are proud of themselves for defying assumptions about race, skin color, and everything it entails.

“I’m proud of us,” Marcia expressed her pride. “You don’t see yourself in a magazine every day.” It appears to be rather daring… Being on the front cover makes me feel unique.”

The girls are still extremely regular twins, despite becoming the face of questioning race, bigotry, and what it implies. Marcia considers herself to be more of a tomboy and claims to despise the color pink. Marcia’s mother concurs, stating that she enjoys gymnastics and the color blue.

Millie, on the other hand, is described by their mother as the princess of the couple. She, like her mother, adores the color pink and “all things glittery.”
“People are created to be who they are,” Marcia explains.

This is exactly the attitude of the girls, according to their mother. They don’t perceive things or people in black and white, she claims, but rather for who they are beyond their looks and skin color.

The sisters were roughly 10 or 11 years old at the time of their National Geographic feature. They said at the time that they had never encountered racism. Their parents both agreed that they had never seen racist conduct directed against the girls. Though their father has had many encounters with racism throughout his life, he believes that the fact that his girls have not is a reflection of the times. While things are far from ideal, perhaps this demonstrates that things are at least better than when he was his daughter’s age.

Naturally, we can only hope that the girls’ experiences remain positive and free of bias because of their skin tones.

Source: boredpanda.com