Firstly, what an apt title for a book. I read about the early life of comedian Trevor Noah. Yes, he is the same guy who comes on Daily Social Distancing show if you did not know. This is my first attempt to writing a book summary and my takeaways to refer back in years from now 🙂
But why this book? Well, to be honest, I love reading about people and how they lived their lives through struggle or in case of adversity and ended up well or not! So here you are.
Born a Crime: This book is about a boy born in the world where his being was not legal, during a time of apartheid, with a Swiss father and a South African mother; to say the least, a coloured child. With racial discrimination, language barriers and different cultural beliefs how he managed to live his life is definitely worth a book to read. Key take aways from this book I learnt:
a. Language breaks ALL barriers: No matter where you are, your brain doesn’t know how to react if the person speaks your language. Right from that moment, there is no discrimination, you are treated as part of the group. You are accepted the very moment. If you need to be accepted in a society you feel you do not belong, learn the language. In the book, you will notice how Trevor Noah explains about a group of gang trying to rob him but was accepted as a part of the group as he spoke their language. This was a mind blowing realisation.
b. Believe in something and stick with it: His mom always believed in God and spent the entire Sunday visiting church come what may. He mentions about the story how she would take him to the Church even when the car did not work. Even if he did not want, his mom would find all ways to continue to be there and take him along. Having that strong head about doing something consistently is extremely important and very inspirational with all challenges.
e. Trying to Fit in: Trevor explains the ironic ostracism he felt living in a coloured neighbourhood where everyone looked like him: South Africa’s coloured people are actually a distinct, African speaking population descending from the children of early Dutch settlers and native women they partnered with (or, frequently, assaulted), as well as indentured servants brought to South Africa from Asia. As a result, Trevor looks coloured but does not share coloured culture, and his neighbours bully him extensively for at once being too white (speaking English instead of Afrikaans) and being too black (speaking Xhosa and hanging out with black kids). After one particularly demoralising episode of bullying, he asks his stepfather for help and then watches in horror as his step father beats the bully and threatens to kill the child’s father. Everyone struggles at it, so we are not the only one dealing with it when trying to fit in a group.
d. Sense of humour: Trevor mentions as he was growing up, he found out that jokes helped him in and out of groups. He explains that he navigated his lack of a racial or ethnic group in high school by reselling food from the cafeteria since he was always first in line and using jokes to pop in and out of various groups. He also touched upon his early life crushes being a coloured kid. (Awwwwwwww) Have humour in the life, that definitely has a charm.
e. Strong women power: Trevor Noah’s mother is definitely a very strong, independent, bold female you would read about. She lived in the neighbourhood where black people were banned. She had a baby with a Swiss man where it was illegal to be even seen together. She would stand back and not be scared to call the police if need be. She did not worry about what others think about her. She wasn’t scared to jump out of a moving van with a newly born child and ~4 year old to protect her and the kids from men who sensed danger. She made sure her kids had the childhood she never had. This world needs such stories to be shared widely for more women to come out!
f. All lives matter: His mother magically survived despite having been shot in the head by her ex-husband. However, there are crimes for which black women still suffer. This last story touches upon to the culture of violence, abuse, and impunity in a country whose legal system still functions as during apartheid, protecting white people against even perceived threats from people of other races but never taking black suffering seriously, especially violence against black women. All lives matter. Period.
Trevor Noah and his mom definitely had an interesting life which they referred back with a very strong sense of humour, you will know when you read this book.
P.S. You are not what you were yesterday, so this is an attempt to start all fresh.
Express It 
