Twins turn heads; they look to be of different races
LINCOLN, Calif. — Fraternal twins Viviana and Dennis look very different from each other.
They are part of the Ng family, a multiracial family from all parts of the world.
The twins' parents, Kenika and Ashley Ng, also come from multiracial families: Kenika Ng's mother is African-American and Hispanic; his father is Hawaiian and Chinese. Ashley Ng is Irish and Hispanic. So the twins are a blend of black, white, Asian and Native Hawaiian.
In combining the Ng parents' racial and ethnic make-up, the children have a unique blend. Ten-month-old Viviana, who is 4 minutes older than her brother, has bright blue eyes and light brown hair like her mother and looks white. Dennis with big brown eyes and black hair looks like his dad.
Kenika Ng serves in the Air Force and is deployed. When Ashley Ng is out and about without her husband, she gets looks and questions about her twins' seemingly different races.
"Some people ask are they mine, are they twins or were they conceived naturally," she said. "When I'm with my husband they are like, 'Oh, now I see.' "
While only a small portion of California residents — 3.7% — say they're two or more races, the percentage of those who claim to white alone and not Hispanic has shrunk to less than 40% compared with about 63% across the USA, according to the Census Bureau. Meanwhile, people of Hispanic ethnicity, who can be of any race, have grown to almost 40% of the population.
The Ngs' twins are fraternal, meaning they came from two different eggs and sperm. Geneticists said the likelihood of one child looking black while the other looks white is rare but possible — especially when the parents are biracial.
Ashley Ng said she doesn't mind the inquiries. She wants her children to embrace their uniqueness.
Kenika Ng also has two daughters from a previous marriage. And they, too, look different from each other. One daughter takes after her mother's Irish roots and has fiery red hair; the other daughter looks like her dad.
"I don't want them to identify with one race or the other," Ashley Ng said.