Born A Crime By Trevor Noah

In the book “Born a crime” written by Trevor Noah, he tells his readers many stories about his childhood living in South Africa. One of the many challenges he had to face was his identity and belonging, Trevor struggled to fit in at school, in friendships, and even choosing between languages was commonly linked to his sense of identity/belonging. The first example in “Born a crime” where Trevor experienced what identity and belonging looked like for him involved the example of how the power of him changing what language he used could prevent a situation from getting ugly very quickly, Trevor recounts this story on (Page 55) “One day as a young man I was walking down the street, and a group of Zulu guys was walking behind me, closing in on me,

Asenzeni. Mina ngikulindele.” “Yo, guys, why don’t we just mug someone together? I’m ready to go. Let’s do it.” This suggests that Trevor's first thought was to use the tool of using common language and play along with their plot. Using this strategy helps him out madgerly as explained in (page 56) “Oh, sorry, dude. We thought you were something else. We weren’t trying to take anything from you. We were trying to steal from white people. Have a good day, man.” They were ready to do me violent harm, until they felt we were part of the same tribe, and then we were cool.” This story really shows the beginning of how Trevor dealt with identity and belonging and how he perceived it, it looks like Trevor used language to his advantage to fit in, to relate to people, Trevor states on page 56 something that further proves this assumption “I became a chameleon. My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my

Trevor starts the Thai story with this very well put statement “at some point, you have to choose. Black or white? Pick a side of the sand. You can try to hide from it. You can say, “Oh, I don’t pick sides,” but at some point life will force you to pick a side.” (page 57) This would be a very accurate option in todays world and how it works, there doesnt seem to be a “right way” to get around it and avoid having to choose sides. Trevor then goes on with his story, “Before that recession I’d never had to choose, but when I was forced to choose, I chose black. The world saw me as colored, but I didn’t spend my life looking at myself. I spent my life looking at other people. I saw myself as the people around me, and the people around me were black.” (page 59) This shows us where he stood in his sense of identity, and how little he focused on what side to pick. Trevor then states what had happened at the playground and the big wake up call he had to the reality of this new middle school he was now attending “The white kids I’d met that