Two 4-year-old best friends from Miami were told that they couldn’t be twins because they don’t have the same skin color. Their response has gone viral.
Jia Sarnicola and Zuri Copeland met at school when the two were both 3 years old. Since then, they’ve been the best of friends and do nearly everything together, according to BuzzFeed News.
«[They have] the same vibrant energy, intelligence, heart to take care of others, and both [are] extremely vocal about their needs,» said Jia’s mom, Ashley Sarnicola. «They love to dance and sing.»
The two say that they are twins because their birthdays are so close together — only two days apart. Last year, they decided to have a joint birthday party and dressed in matching outfits, according to Yahoo News.
«So my sister Zuri and her best friend Jia were at the birthday party, and they had been telling anyone that would listen that they are twins» said Zuri’s sister, Victoria Williams. «They think that they are twins because they celebrate their birthdays together.»
The young girls have vehemently defended their twin status to any doubters. According to Sarnicola, the two were at a birthday party when Jia told two girls about her «twin» sister.
One girl responded: «There is no way you and Zuri are twins! You don’t have the same skin color!»
Jia became visibly upset and began to cry. But that didn’t stop her from holding her ground.
«You don’t know anything, we are twins because we have the same birthday and the same soul,» she said, according to Sarnicola.
The two don’t let their different skin colors get in the way of their friendship — or their status as siblings for that matter. Sarincola said she’s grateful to raise her daughter in Miami, which is a diverse community.
«We have always taught the girls that being different is cool, and to make friends with new people every day,» she told BuzzFeed News. «In their class at school, there are six different languages between the 15 kids.»
Sarincola also said that Jia has told her that «she wishes she had chocolate-color skin like Zuri because she «likes chocolate better than vanilla.»
The girls’ friendship quickly went viral after Zuri’s sister posted a recap of the events on her Twitter.
«A lot of grown ups could learn to be better people if they’d take a lesson from these two little girls!» wrote one Twitter user.
Others asserted that Jia was «wise beyond her years,” and that together «these two can change the world.»
