A million to one. Again.
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Gee. For a “million-to-one” odds, it seems like we’re seeing a whole lot of “miracle black and white twins” these days. Just a few days after our last reported twins, here comes yet another set.
Ok I’m sorry but this case is a great example of what I talked about in the last post. These babies look totally alike to me - one is just slightly darker-skinned than the other. What is all the damned hysteria about? It’s just genetic variation. It’s not such a big mystery.
(Thanks to Tariq for the tip!)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
kim wrote:
Carmen,
My reaction to your statements, and I am of a like mind about the insignificance of the “event”, is the general orientation of the comments placing the normative standard of (babies? humans? babies from these types of unions?) with “whiteness,” with the coloring of one of the twins as “other,” or “outside of the norm.”
The orientation in everything I have read related to the other twins, in England, leaned toward the point of difference resting in the coloring of the brown child, “slightly darker/darker,” etc.
Obviously the normal look is that of the “white” child.
It may not seem like much, but it does rankle.
Posted 01 Nov 2006 at 2:02 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
No, Kim, you’re not imagining things. It does seem that the subtle focus, spoken or not, is on the “minority” twin (noone ever seems to write, for instance, that the other twin is unusually pale, but that the twin is “white”).
I like the header in a recent Slate article - can’t find it again, but it was something like, “Your twins are different races? Mine too!”
Just like there can be 10 storms in a 100 Years that qualify as 100-Year storms, I SUPPOSE that saying “million odds” for a genetic trait isn’t impossible… but since we’re talking about parents with mixed phenotypes and only 6-7 genes for skin color, I can’t believe that million-to-one is accurate from a scientific POV. Now, from a cultural one, it’s obviously challenging people… maybe that’s a good thing.
Posted 01 Nov 2006 at 2:32 pm ¶
Meera wrote:
“The orientation in everything I have read related to the other twins, in England, leaned toward the point of difference resting in the coloring of the brown child, “slightly darker/darker,” etc.”
“Obviously the normal look is that of the “white” child.”
I think it’s another typical example of the way whiteness is generally viewed as the universal.
But I also think it depends on what is considered “the norm” to the observer. I’d be willing to bet that on the black side(s) of these families, more people will comment on the lighter twin if anything(they just won’t call the child “white”).
As one of my relatives joked about my son when my “miracle” twins were born – “Poor boy…we’ll have to work really hard to make sure he knows he’s a part of the family.”
Posted 01 Nov 2006 at 8:37 pm ¶
Meg wrote:
Lyonside: “noone ever seems to write, for instance, that the other twin is unusually pale”
i laughed outloud at that, “i’m sorry ma’am, but one of the babies seems *cough* unusually pale…” hehehe.
Anyway, to try and add something to this topic besides my wierd humour, when it’s e.g. an italian mother with caucasian father no one looks twice when one baby has darker features and the other is blonde hair blue eyed. My point: it seems to be particular interest with black/white as usual.
Posted 02 Nov 2006 at 5:37 am ¶
Meera wrote:
I think you’re right Meg…and I feel that again, it goes back to the notion of whiteness as the universal.
But I was at Target with my twins the other day and spotted another set in which one had red hair and pink skin, the other had olive-skin and dark hair. The mother, who was white, said that many people comment to her about them, even asking if they have the same father (they do).
I still would bet that she can get out of the supermarket faster than any of the moms of the “black” “white” twins can (too busy dodging questions).
Posted 03 Nov 2006 at 8:31 pm ¶
kim wrote:
Meera,
Eaves drop on a black family now and then (making assumptions here without ever seeing you) and listen to the language:
People sometimes make disingenuous “jokes”, they claim them to be, about how ‘white’ a family member is. Or, how they are not “really Black, but you know you’re one of us”
Posted 03 Nov 2006 at 9:12 pm ¶
mtevc wrote:
The fascination with this story is purely based on racist notions and our thoughts on that old one drop rule. It’s so sad to see how people don’t even realize what they are saying, and I wish the parents of the children stay out of the media. If this is within the range of possibilities (and I too, like one writer above), can’t believe that the odds are one million to one, given the mixed race parents…that is, unless you subscribe to the racist one drop rule…with that black blood winning out and contaminating everything. I will be so glad when this story dies down. I had to explain the fascination to my 12 yr old daughter, who couldn’t understand what the fuss was, considering her mom is light brown and has dark hair and dark eyes and she has green eyes and blonde hair.
Posted 04 Nov 2006 at 5:03 pm ¶
Daniel wrote:
This story is more boring than watching paint dry. The comments here are much more interesting. To me, black and brown are the norm and white is the aberation.
Posted 05 Nov 2006 at 2:01 am ¶