Born A Crime Quotes

Sophie Surguladze 12/15/2022 Ms. Ippolito Period 8 He Who Has a Will
Those in authority weaponize division to maintain their own power. In turn, those under their oppression find individual ways to take back stability and choice in life. In the memoir, Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah, division can be found throughout all aspects of his life. As a half white, half black child living in Johannesburg, South Africa, Noah is “colored” (he calls himself such in the memoir) and does not legally exist. His early years were controlled directly by white supremacy and Apartheid and Afrikaners, and even after they fell, it continued to indirectly have control over those who lived in South Africa. Apartheid aimed to

Born a Crime deeply explores the tensions between those of color and whites in South Africa. Apartheid and the rule of Afrikaners very clearly puts whites on a higher pedestal than black people in their own country. This oppression is shown through hardship and inequalities in opportunity. During Apartheid, “the government provided no public transportation for blacks¨ (14). Additionally, whites and blacks were not allowed to have intimate relations, and if police found out about an interracial couple, they “would kick down the door, drag the people out, beat them, and arrest them¨”(22). In this context, however, this applies to the black party in the relationship. White people got off on the basis that they were drunk and given a warning. White rule of South Africa was blatant, as the law supported racism against blacks in their own place of living. It was oppression from colonizers, even at the end of the 20th century. For Noah, his situation was more complicated as not only was he oppressed as a “colored person”, but he was also stripped of community and belonging. He was half black, and thus white privilege was not accessible to him. However, he didn't fit in with the black population either. They rejected him, because of his half white heritage, he had a trait in him that was linked to oppression of his community. He wasn't white enough or black enough to fit into either way of life. No

When people understand each other, it connects and humanizes the world. It crosses divides and links people together as one, unifies them on the same team and empowers them with a community. It also comes with its own individual power, the ability to make meaning in the eyes of others. Language has been a big part of Noah's life, as he speaks English, Afrikaans, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Tsonga, and German. He uses these languages when he talks to certain people to make them more inclined to help him out or bring him into their circle. For Noah, the languages he learns make up for being different, “colored”, and gives him communities where he would otherwise not fit in. One day walking down the street, Noah hears some Zulu boys planning to mug him. He responds in their language, and the second he does, they laugh and tell him they thought he was a white boy. Noah reflects that they were ready to harm him, “until they felt we were part of the same tribe”, and then they “were cool”. He says it himself, that “language, even more than color, defines who you are to people” (55). The mobility to communicate with different groups of people offer him safety, belonging, and the voice to choose how he is perceived. Language gave him the power of choice, fitting in, and the ability to defend himself. This tool to gain back power in his life, language, is effective because humans crave familiarity as it reminds them of