"Born a Crime" chapters 13-17

 Discussion Questions to go with journal:

 For this week, we will be reading (chapters 13-17). Pull two quotes for your reader’s journal. Make sure to include your response to the quotes, too. [Please note that we will finish the memoir during finals week when we read the last two chapters, but we’re almost to the end!]

In America, the history of racism is taught like this: “There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it’s done.” It was the same for us. “Apartheid was bad. Nelson Mandela was freed. Let’s move on.” Facts, but not many, and never the emotional or moral dimension. It was as if the teachers, many of whom were white, had been given a mandate. “Whatever you do, don’t make the kids angry.”(Noah, 183)

-This stuck out to me, because even today, we're taught a sanitized version of history. This approach leaves out a lot of the deeper, more complex ideas, preventing a proper understanding of the issue at hand, and making us feel like our more troubled history is insignificant. It's important to acknowledge these histories, because a lot of their impacts are ongoing and relevant, even if we can't quite see that. 

"It's easy to be judgmental about crime when you live in a world wealthy enough to be removed from it. But the hood taught me everyone has different notions of right and wrong..." (Noah, 212)

-This stuck with me, because having spent the better part of my life in America, I've started to find it easy to judge addicts out in the streets, "speed demons" out in the road, and lawbreakers in general, because they're doing things I find to be against my moral compass. Yet, when I force myself to speed or find myself becoming more addicted to electronics, I try my best to justify my actions. This is Noah's point. We see something illegal, and never think why the person is doing what they're doing. Just as we justify our selfish actions, criminals might be doing the same. We only think about what helps us, not what helps others.

1. In chapter thirteen Trevor Noah falls on the wrong side of the law, but how does a messed up view on race end up saving him from serious trouble?          When Reviewing the VCR, everyone failed to consider that the footage was in black and white. Teddy showed up as dark, and Noah as white, his colors being completely blown out. Because he showed up as such, the fact that it could've been an olive skinned individual such as Trevor was completely thrown out the window.
2. “People love to say, ‘Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.’ What they don’t say is ‘And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.’ That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing. Working with Andrew was the first time in my life I realized you need someone from the privileged world to come to you and say, ‘Okay, here’s what you need and here’s how it works’” (Noah 190). What happens in his life to teach him this? Do you agree with what he writes here? Why or why not?         Trevor had the talents, but not the resources. His friend Andrew had access to things like an education as well as a multitude of resources. Andrew provided Noah with the CD writer and allowed him to grow in the realm of music piracy. Without Andrew, Noah wouldn't have had the resources he needed. I completely agree with what Trevor Noah writes. Growing up, my family didn't (and still doesn't) have any money. I had to buy a new calculator for my math class, but it would've set us back almost $200. We didn't have that kind of money. for the whole year, I had to borrow one of my friends' older models of that same calculator. Without him, I would've been lost. Even today, under privileged individuals like myself still seem to lag behind. 
3. “The hood made me realize that crime succeeds because crimes does the one thing the government doesn’t do: crime cares. Crime is grassroots” (Noah 209). What does he mean?   What Trevor Noah means by this is that crime appears to the less fortunate and discriminates against nobody, unlike the government. It seems to offer opportunity at every corner and doesn't limit you to the confines of the law. Where as the government only seems to favor the rich, crime leaves it's arms wide open to welcome anybody in with a comforting embrace.