Born A Crime
This week, I got to read my kid's school-assigned non-fiction book, It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers). It has stuck with me for days.
his father chose him
first, when Trevor was born out of wedlock, as a crime, with a woman who was not and could not be his life partner, his father said he wanted to be a part of this child's life
second, after he had to leave because of situations, he continued to keep a scrapbook of every Trevor Noah appearance in the press, as billing for a show, etc. which he got to share with him as an adult after many years of separation. On reading this anecdote, I couldn't stop crying for 10 minutes 1
an absolute dirt poor upbringing
- early life in a township, sharing a one-room shack with his mother, his grandmother, and his great grandmother
- in Jo'burg, having at one time to eat caterpillars (mopane worms, or wild spinach plus some spiny, crunchy protein)
- choosing in a mixed high school to ask to take classes with the dumb black kids rather than the smart white kids
- hustling in the township after high school, rather than as his mother wanted, living with his cousin in college where he would be surrounded by people on the right track that she knew would challenge him to achieve his potential
- I have seen the online pictures of Trevor's multi-million dollar houses. And got a glimpse of his New York residence when they filmed The Daily Show at home during the pandemic. His story is really an American, global, and 21st century success story
And the time when he DJ'ed a party for his livelihood, the cop shot and destroyed his DJ computer and monitor because the party was too loud. That was the end of his DJ career. This story resonates with the stories right now on the news, of the Sikh grandmother deported from the US, or the Central American mother with a young family, who has been here since the age of 9 and holds a valid greencard, getting taken away from her family.
his mother Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah
- a Xhosa woman born with a brain and a will, as the forgotten neglected unwanted child in a childhood which included stealing food scraps from dogs and pigs
- parts of her life were pre-colonial. Like bush living
- who learned English and typing at a time (before the time!) when there were no jobs for black South African women who could type
- who supported her family, then decided to leave because she was tired of supporting them. Who supported her husband (Trevor's step-father) despite paternalism/misogyny, abuse, violent alcoholism and having two children with him
- deeply religious yet mischievous / sinful
- really had a brain, which did not accept injustice despite the world saying that is just the way it is
the Koko story
I laughed so much, uncontrollably, at the utter horror of his Koko story. The perfect story for middle school boys!
I know deeply that my parents love me deeply. But they didn't attend any of my high school shows. I think (I have always told myself) that as immigrants, they didn't even know about shows and didn't know they could attend, they were expected to attend, etc. But now I'm a full grown man, who used to put on makeup and sing and dance and play instruments and give speeches and do math problems and win trophies for the school, in rooms at events full of classmates' parents but not my own parents↩