How was Noah's upbringing complicated by living in a "police state," particularly as a colored child?
He remembers when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and how the streets were filled with very little white blood and a majority of black blood, referred to as the Bloodless Revolution. That was because of the triumph of democracy over apartheid, giving Trevor Noah a violence-filled town.
Bouncing around from church to church. He went to black church and white church with his family. His mother was extremely religious and took Trevor and his brother along, no matter what the commute to the church was. Trevor was confused as to why white church was so nonchalant and fast paced, while black church was never ending and took hours upon …show more content…
If Trevor was ever caught with his parents, they could be arrested or fined, and Trevor would be sent off to live with a colored family. He would be called white by some of his family members and people in his neighborhood would use him as a landmark when giving directions because he stood out. It confused him because color wise, he calls himself light brown, he just assumed people didn't have their colors properly learned. When he was born, doctors at the hospital were perplexed to see such a light-skinned baby. After being asked who the father is, Trevor Noah's mother had no option except to lie. That being said, Trevor doesn't have a father listed on his birth certificate. He couldn't call his dad "dad" because they would be caught for being a mixed family. All of this was because of apartheid, and all of this is an extremely flawed sense of morality towards a person because of the DNA that they are comprised of. All of these factors made Trevor Noah, born a …show more content…
However, I don't believe that speaking English is superior to any other language. For example, Spanish is widely spoken in the United States as well as English, so many employers look for people who can speak both. In my job alone, our cleaners speak Spanish and the only person who is fluent in Spanish as well is one of the owners, so if he isn't there then there is a language barrier. That is an example of the English language not being superior. His claims about the power of language is very accurate. He stated how he his mother picked up many different languages, one being Afrikaans because it is important and useful to know "the language of your oppressor" (p. 55). He also told a story of a person talking to a security guard in a shop, the person said to the guard "follow those blacks in case they steal something," in a language that they assumed Trevor and his mother didn't know, but his mother did. The jokes on them at that point. Trevor Noah brought up a good point when he said, "… language, even more than color, defines who you are to people" (p. 56). This is important and is valuable because of the fact that even if you don't physically look like someone of the same race, if you can communicate and converse with them, it is a different type of connection. Being able to relate to someone verbally is very important, in his case, it got him out of being mugged by a group of
He remembers when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and how the streets were filled with very little white blood and a majority of black blood, referred to as the Bloodless Revolution. That was because of the triumph of democracy over apartheid, giving Trevor Noah a violence-filled town.
Bouncing around from church to church. He went to black church and white church with his family. His mother was extremely religious and took Trevor and his brother along, no matter what the commute to the church was. Trevor was confused as to why white church was so nonchalant and fast paced, while black church was never ending and took hours upon …show more content…
If Trevor was ever caught with his parents, they could be arrested or fined, and Trevor would be sent off to live with a colored family. He would be called white by some of his family members and people in his neighborhood would use him as a landmark when giving directions because he stood out. It confused him because color wise, he calls himself light brown, he just assumed people didn't have their colors properly learned. When he was born, doctors at the hospital were perplexed to see such a light-skinned baby. After being asked who the father is, Trevor Noah's mother had no option except to lie. That being said, Trevor doesn't have a father listed on his birth certificate. He couldn't call his dad "dad" because they would be caught for being a mixed family. All of this was because of apartheid, and all of this is an extremely flawed sense of morality towards a person because of the DNA that they are comprised of. All of these factors made Trevor Noah, born a …show more content…
However, I don't believe that speaking English is superior to any other language. For example, Spanish is widely spoken in the United States as well as English, so many employers look for people who can speak both. In my job alone, our cleaners speak Spanish and the only person who is fluent in Spanish as well is one of the owners, so if he isn't there then there is a language barrier. That is an example of the English language not being superior. His claims about the power of language is very accurate. He stated how he his mother picked up many different languages, one being Afrikaans because it is important and useful to know "the language of your oppressor" (p. 55). He also told a story of a person talking to a security guard in a shop, the person said to the guard "follow those blacks in case they steal something," in a language that they assumed Trevor and his mother didn't know, but his mother did. The jokes on them at that point. Trevor Noah brought up a good point when he said, "… language, even more than color, defines who you are to people" (p. 56). This is important and is valuable because of the fact that even if you don't physically look like someone of the same race, if you can communicate and converse with them, it is a different type of connection. Being able to relate to someone verbally is very important, in his case, it got him out of being mugged by a group of