Born a Crime Chapters 4-5

 

• Reader’s Journal: continue reading Born a Crime (chapters 4-5) and pull two more quotes for discussion in your reader’s journal.

- "But we were all just chocolate. I didn't know it had anything do with 'race'." (54) 

     To me, this quote really highlights  everything that's wrong in our society. I had a very similar outlook as Trevor Noah, but as I grew I'd hear X thing about X race from X person and my outlook shifted. To me, Trevor Noah's account really highlights how racism and discrimination is something that's acquired.

- "Where South Africa's white countryside was lush and irrigated and green, the black lands were overpopulated and overgrazed, the soil depleting and eroding." (65) 

   This quote really stuck out, because this is still a contrast that exists today. If you look at places like Minneapolis, you have these huge, lavish buildings on the inside, but on the outskirts lie old, run-down and low income neighborhoods. It seems lie some things never change.

• Discussion Questions:
• What animal or insect on earth most frightens you? Do you think you could handle a close-up experience with the creature? What happens to Trevor Noah in this bit where he has an “authentic Balinese experience?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN9hm7k9fns

- I'm not really scared of any animal, but if I had to pick something that I at least find to be a bit chilling, I'd have to pick the blue ring octopus. One bite from that thing, and your entire body becomes paralyzed, including your vital bodily systems. In his "authentic Balinese experience" Trevor Noah, during a trip to Bali, has an experience where at a sort of show, the performers brought out snakes to them. Afraid, he moves away to watch the rest of the show. In the middle of it, a performer gets bitten on the lips by a king cobra and tries to play it off, but can't and ends up running off, leaving the snake behind. Some pretty silly shenanigans occurred in the resulting chaos, but Noah, having moved to the back, was unaffected.

 

• In chapter four, what does Trevor Noah mean when he writes “language even more than color defines who you are?” (56). In what sense does he believe he was a “chameleon” growing up?

- Language allows you to communicate in ways that can change the way people perceive you. Noah was still able to fit in by speaking different languages at the appropriate times.

• In chapter five Noah describes the “black tax” (66). What does he mean by this? What advice does his mother give him about dealing with the past? Lastly, what does he mean that they were poor “but rich in experience?”

- The Black Tax is the generational issue of having to fix problems of the past. You lose everything trying to bring up those who came before you. Noah's mother essentially teaches that while acknowledging the past is important, dwelling on it can be crippling. They're rich in experience, because the way he was brought up has taught him to see things in a more positive light.