Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah grew up in unique circumstances during a unique time in South Africa. His mom was black, but his dad was from Switzerland. They had to hide the relationships due to the Apartheid conditions. This book brings to life the conditions and some of the absurdities experienced by those that lived it. Japanese were considered white. Chinese were considered black. People could petition to have their race changed. There were multiple different African groups with many languages. There were also different white groups. Coloreds were mixed race, neither white nor black. In. Apartheid they would try to be white. Afterwards, being black was advantageous. Racial mixing was forbidden during apartheid, but then somewhat encouraged afterwards. 

The author didn't fit in, yet fit in everywhere. He spoke English as well as a few different African languages. In one case he heard some boys planning to mug the "white guy". He turned around and talked to him in their language to ask if he could help. In another case, he was with a friend stealing chocolates from the mall. The friend got caught, but would not rat. The police talked to the author and even showed surveillance footage. However, they all saw the thief as "white" and would not even consider the author.

The author engaged in a bit of music piracy and DJing. This allowed bringing up discussion of African names. Most people had an African language name and an "English" name. These names would be chosen more casually, usually for some name that people had heard. In one case, he had a dance buddy named Hitler. People had only a vague understanding of who Hitler was, and didn't see issues with the name. This was generally fine - until they were performing at a Jewish center. Needless to say, chants of "go Hitler" did not go over very well.

The author was quite the troublemaker. He often got in trouble. He later lived in the "hood" where he engaged in various petty crime. White people had "insurance" so it was not considered bad to steal. (Though he changed his mind after somebody tried to sell him a camera with family pictures.) One time he went to jail and observed the different types and hierarchies in jail. He could pass as "colored". Since these were the primary gang-bangers, he was able to do that to keep people out of his way. However, when he got to the prison groups awaiting bail or trial, there were real colored gang members, so he decided to associated with whites. He observed more serious crime up close when his step-dad shot his mom. Through some miracle, the shot in the head missed any sensitive areas, and she was able to go back to work in a week.

The book has many other humorous stories that do a great job of exploring the culture of South Africa and the interesting race relations there.