l-r: Remi, Kian, Remee, and Kylie.
In a story that has rocked the British tabloidscape, a teen dad has named one of his twin daughters after himself. Oh, and in other news, the kid's white.
The two bi-racial parents had fraternal twin girls; one is blonde-blue-eyed, and 'white', and the other is, well, I was just about to type 'black,' but that feels like missing the whole point. I mean, is the definition of 'black' 'not white'? I don't think so. I went back and put quotes around 'white'.
I was about to rag on the headline-grabbing statistic of "a million to one" odds, but as the article goes on to explain, that's for a bi-racial couple. to have fraternal twins. with significantly disparate skin tones. including one who's white. Break it down, and there's a 1-in-100 probability that biracial parents will have a whitey white baby. So what's the big deal?
In a moment like this, the immortal words of Frank Sinatra* come to mind: "Side by side, you are my amigo, Negro, let's not fiiiiiiiight!"
Black and white twins [dailymail via kottke]
* as interpreted by Joe Piscopo
Here's an article discussing how white parents can have a black baby.
What I was really looking for, but didn't find because my daughter is tugging on my arm asking to be read a book, is a good link about chimera babies. It's a condition in which the child's DNA doesn't necessarily match the parents', and different body parts of the same child can have different DNA. This can lead to a white child from black parents, though most chimeras look "normal" and never learn of their condition unless they have odd circumstances leading to multiple DNA tests using samples from differing parts of their body.
{yeah, I saw a show about that on Discovery Channel. Two embryos fuse into one, and a person has two distinct sets of dna. -ed.]
I love your blog. I've been reading it as diligently as time permits ever since we found out my wife was pregnant, and our daughter is now 8 months old.
In case no one else gets it, I had to let you know what a laugh I got out of this post's title. I own the Best of Eddie Murphy SNL compilation and that bit always cracks me up.
"You are blind as a bat and I have sight"
Keep up the great work!
The child probably inherited the blue eyes and white skin from the grandparents. It's always a chance when you are biracial, and in the end the babies are only biracial.