"When you have no fear, the possibilities are endless." Jeffree Star Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/no-fear-quotes
When you read Trevor Noah's book, you will find out he is fearless.
His autobiography, Born a Crime, depicts not only Trevor's early years of life in South Africa but what the country looked like at the end of apartheid - “apartness”.
What was apartheid?
“Racial segregation had long existed in white minority-governed South Africa, but the practice was extended under the government led by the National Party (1948–94), and the party named its racial segregation policies apartheid (Afrikaans: “apartness”). The Population Registration Act of 1950 classified South Africans as Bantu (black Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), or white; an Asian (Indian and Pakistani) category was later added. Other apartheid acts dictated where South Africans, on the basis of their racial classification, could live and work, the type of education they could receive, whether they could vote, who they could associate with, and which segregated public facilities they could use.”
My first experience with apartheid was on the campus of the University of Kansas in 1977.
I attended classes at KU from 1977 to 1980 and I distinctly remember watching anti-apartheid protests in front of Strong Hall. I remember seeing signs and a few people gathered that looked something like this picture. (I could not find a picture of people protesting at KU during a quick Google search.) This picture, obviously, is from a protest at Princeton.
Nassau Hall protest, April 1978, Princeton Alumni Weekly Photograph Collection, AC126, Box 33.
My second experience with apartheid was when I taught the book Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Paton depicts what South Africa looked like leading up to the government-controlled segregation. He describes, in this fictional novel, a chaotic and unhealthy world where everyone lived in fear and anxiety. The black people lived in fear of the whites and vice versa.
It was a divided country based on fear with little hope for the future.
Sound familiar?
Here is the most famous passage from the book:
“Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.”
My third experience with apartheid has been reading Noah’s book Born a Crime and learning from someone who experienced apartheid firsthand.
Apartheid ended in 1994.
However, as we know from the Jim Crow era, formal laws may end, but the ripple effect still penetrates society.
When will people understand that a divided - fearful - world only hurts us all?
Most of us are not Trevor Noah.
Here is the complete text of Born a Crime; however, I listened to the book and it was an amazing experience to hear Trevor describe his experiences. I highly recommend listening to the book.
Works Cited
Did you read both these books for your book club? I loved Born a Crime. I saw the movie too. I need to reread the other book. I read It long ago.