KENTWOOD: Twins Monica Sparks and Jessica Ann Tyson are similar in nearly every approach.
The African American sisters working for local workplace in the US state of Michigan cast an unbreakable bond during a childhood tarred by abuse. They put on the same white get dressed or even end every other's sentences.
But their selection of jewelry — a blue flower pin for Sparks, a crimson one for Tyson — gives away the one key factor keeping apart the 46-year-old girls: their political stripes.
Sparks is a Democrat. Tyson is a Republican.
They say they're proof positive that political differences may also be overcome, even in an increasingly polarized America.
"It just baffles our mind why people hate each other," Tyson tells AFP in a joint interview with her sister. "Mothers aren't talking to sons. Fathers are disowning daughters."
"We are not going to let this come between our family," says Sparks.
Sparks and Tyson reside in neighboring electoral districts in the Midwestern state — a part of the country's historically Democratic Rust Belt that, in opposition to all odds, helped Donald Trump win the presidency.
Each is campaigning for a seat on the governing board that oversees Kent County, which is home to 640,000 other people and is the state's second maximum populous space, after Detroit.
The number one election is on August 7. Sparks faces several Democratic competitors, while Tyson is working unopposed for the Republican nomination.
The twins say they agree on extensive ideas: they both want to reside a lifetime of service and to cut back political discord.
The rest, they say, may also be negotiated.
"We need to start finding common ground, period, if we're going to get ahead as a society," says Sparks.
Sparks and Tyson say they have been close all in their lives, relying on every other as children after they could not rely on adults.
Born in 1972 to a heroin-addicted mom in the state capital Lansing, they were sent to a horrible foster home on the age of 5.
Sparks says they were abused "emotionally, physically, sexually," and Tyson recalls her sister rummaging via trash cans on the lookout for meals.
"We went through a lot of abuse together," Tyson says. "And together we got through."
The girls ultimately were adopted by loving oldsters, who instilled in them a way of civic accountability.
As adults, they have volunteered for quite a lot of reasons, served on their faculty board and other local companies, while working small companies.
Now, they hope to serve in a formal political capacity.
The African American sisters working for local workplace in the US state of Michigan cast an unbreakable bond during a childhood tarred by abuse. They put on the same white get dressed or even end every other's sentences.
But their selection of jewelry — a blue flower pin for Sparks, a crimson one for Tyson — gives away the one key factor keeping apart the 46-year-old girls: their political stripes.
Sparks is a Democrat. Tyson is a Republican.
They say they're proof positive that political differences may also be overcome, even in an increasingly polarized America.
"It just baffles our mind why people hate each other," Tyson tells AFP in a joint interview with her sister. "Mothers aren't talking to sons. Fathers are disowning daughters."
"We are not going to let this come between our family," says Sparks.
Sparks and Tyson reside in neighboring electoral districts in the Midwestern state — a part of the country's historically Democratic Rust Belt that, in opposition to all odds, helped Donald Trump win the presidency.
Each is campaigning for a seat on the governing board that oversees Kent County, which is home to 640,000 other people and is the state's second maximum populous space, after Detroit.
The number one election is on August 7. Sparks faces several Democratic competitors, while Tyson is working unopposed for the Republican nomination.
The twins say they agree on extensive ideas: they both want to reside a lifetime of service and to cut back political discord.
The rest, they say, may also be negotiated.
"We need to start finding common ground, period, if we're going to get ahead as a society," says Sparks.
Sparks and Tyson say they have been close all in their lives, relying on every other as children after they could not rely on adults.
Born in 1972 to a heroin-addicted mom in the state capital Lansing, they were sent to a horrible foster home on the age of 5.
Sparks says they were abused "emotionally, physically, sexually," and Tyson recalls her sister rummaging via trash cans on the lookout for meals.
"We went through a lot of abuse together," Tyson says. "And together we got through."
The girls ultimately were adopted by loving oldsters, who instilled in them a way of civic accountability.
As adults, they have volunteered for quite a lot of reasons, served on their faculty board and other local companies, while working small companies.
Now, they hope to serve in a formal political capacity.
Identical twins run for US office — for rival parties
![Identical twins run for US office — for rival parties]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
July 25, 2018
Rating:
