Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (One World Essentials)

by Trevor Noah

You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all.

let’s learn English. We’ll understand what the white man is saying, and we can force him to negotiate with us.”

I eventually decided black people needed more

time with Jesus because we suffered more.

If it hadn’t been for the Volkswagen that didn’t work, we never would have looked for the mechanic who became the husband who became the

stepfather who became the man who tortured us for years and put a bullet in the back of my mother’s head—I’ll

Sun’qhela is a phrase with many shades of meaning.

She wasn’t one of those “Come over here and get your hiding” type moms. She’d deliver it to you free of charge.

What I do remember, what I will never forget, is the violence that followed.

Apartheid was perfect racism.

abolished slavery in name but kept it in practice.

used that knowledge to build the most advanced system of racial oppression known to man.

one of the worst crimes you could commit was having sexual relations with a

person of another race.

Needless to say, my parents committe...

races can mix—and in a lot of cases, want to mix. Because a mixed person embodies that rebuke to the logic of the system,

The ultimate goal of apartheid was to make South Africa a white country,

this so-called white country could not function without black labor to produce its wealth, which meant black people had to be allowed to live near white areas

He was quiet and reserved; she was wild and free.

Ok but like if this wasn't a true story and he didn't turn out abusive this would be a good romance trope.

I was born a crime.

Where most children are proof of their parents’ love, I was the proof of their criminality.

The wrong color kid in the wrong color area,

I wasn’t a lonely kid—I was good at being alone.

She’s barely five feet tall,

Women held the community together.

life centered on faith.

Which made my prayers the best prayers because English prayers get answered first.

Really shows how the apartheid made them subconsciously believe that they were less than white people. And even in the eyes of god.

Women in the township always had something to pray for—money

Yes, it was a prison designed by our oppressors,

America the dream is to make it out of the ghetto. In Soweto, because there was no leaving the ghetto, the dream was to transform the ghetto.

Growing up the way I did, I learned how easy it is for white people to get comfortable with a system that awards them all the perks.

it is useful to know the language of your oppressor.

language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.

Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.

Kids still got teased and bullied, but it was over usual kid stuff: being fat or being skinny, being tall or being short, being smart or being dumb.

Nobody asked me what I was. I was Trevor.

a comfortable place where I could avoid making a tough decision. But the real world doesn’t go away. Racism exists. People are getting hurt, and just because it’s not happening to you doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

I’d rather be held back with people I liked than move ahead with people I didn’t know.

My mother used to tell me, “I chose to have you because I wanted something to love and something that would love me unconditionally in return.”

“Learn from your past

and be better because of your past,” she would say, “but don’t cry about your past. Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you, but don’t hold on to it. Don’t be bitter.”

All the other kids at school got brands, Nike and Adidas. I never got brands.

As modestly as we lived at home, I never felt poor because our lives were so rich

We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.

and its authority rests on a bunch of rules that don’t make any sense.

“Because he’s a piece of you,” she said, “and if you don’t find him you won’t find yourself.”

“So why would you come all the way to Africa if you hate black people?

Facts

We’d gone from living under apartheid to living under another kind of tyranny, that of an abusive, alcoholic man.

Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being.

Relationships are built in the silences. You spend time with people, you observe them and interact with them, and you come to know them—and