Julianna Lopez:
I remember when I was in either kindergarten or first grade I came home and I said, “mom everyone in my class looks like you and I don’t, why?”
Jeddy Johnson
Julianna Lopez was born from Rob Lopez, a Puerto Rican man and Robin Lopez, a European woman. Together they had both Julianna and Olivia Lopez. Blood sisters, but maybe not from the naked eye.
Julianna Lopez:
We both were on the same dance team and there were some people on our dance team that didn’t know we were siblings until years after we had joined.
Olivia Lopez:
When people say Julianna and I aren’t related its kinda like a knife in the stomach.
Julianna Lopez:
One of my friends said that her mom asked her “where did they get her from,” talking about me cause she only knew my mom and didn’t know my dad.
Olivia Lopez:
When people see my parents their like “oh, now I get it.”
Julianna Lopez:
It’s like a moment of realization when you see our parents.
Olivia Lopez:
Like I told you we were related. I wasn’t just lying.
Jeddy Johnson
Like their parents the two have contrasting skin tones and growing up in predominately white neighborhood left one sister more subject to outward ridicule than the other.
Julianna Lopez:
“I think I was in second grade and a kid who was in 5th grade was sitting across from me and he called me ‘poopy head’ because he said “your skin is brown.” That was the first instant where I ever felt racial discrimination based off my skin tone and I was 7 years old on the bus.
Jeddy Johnson
But Olivia says she faces discrimination in other ways.
Olivia Lopez:
I receive insults from both sides so like other people who are Hispanic are like “b**** you’re not Hispanic,” and people who are white are like “Oh, you’re Hispanic” and it’s like the same look people give you every time that they’re like (facial expression).
Julianna Lopez:
I do think now that my sister and I have grown up we definitely look more alike than we did when we were younger.
Olivia Lopez:
We look kinda similar right now.
Olivia Lopez:
When you look at families, not every single person in the family looks exactly like. Don’t ever assume something about someone just because of the way they look. Like that’s rule number one in life
Jeddy Johnson
Jeddy Johnson, NCC NEWS
By Jeddy Johnson SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Julianna and Olivia Lopez are sisters from East Greenbush, New York. Both are half hispanic and half white, but from the surface, Julianna looks fully hispanic and Olivia, fully white. Due to their contrasting skin tones, the two have spent their lifetime defending themselves as sisters.
“We both were on the same dance team and there were some people on our dance team that didn’t know we were siblings until years after we had joined,” Julianna said. “And that was just baffling to me because we had the same last name.”
“When people say Julianna and I aren’t related, its kinda like a knife in the stomach because I’m proud to have her as my sister,” Olivia said.
Julianna takes after her dad and Olivia, after her mom.
“I definitely feel like people lumped my sister into the white category when we were in school even though technically she’s half white,” Julianna said, but she did not receive the same treatment.
The Lopez sisters grew up in a predominately white neighborhood and in school, Julianna was one of ten non-white looking students. Because of her skin tone, Julianna was often the butt of offensive jokes and name calling.
“I was in second grade and a kid who was in fifth grade was sitting across from me, and he called me ‘poopy head’ because he said ‘your skin is brown,'” Julianna said. “That was the first instant where I ever felt racial discrimination based off my skin tone and I was seven years old on the bus and I know that wouldn’t happen to my sister.”
Olivia does not see her appearance as a privilege though. As a musical theatre major in New York City, she notices just how much appearance matters when it comes to casting.
“A lot of the time I do wish that I looked more like Julianna,” Olivia said. “I look more Italian than I do Hispanic and it confuses people. It kind of makes me feel not worthy to play parts that have these beautiful Hispanic and Afro-hispanic women in them because I don’t look like them.”
Both sisters identify as Hispanic-white women even though doing so often comes with an explainer.
“What you see is not at all what could be underneath the surface,” Olivia said. “Don’t ever assume something about someone just because of the way they look, like that’s rule number one in life.”
