Born a Crime Quotes

“In any society built on institutionalized racism, race-mixing… reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent.” (Chapter 2)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Trevor Noah points out that race-mixing is a natural way to challenge racism itself. When people get to know other people, they see each other as fellow human beings, leading to interracial couples and their children. To keep the races apart and at war, the apartheid regime outlawed the race-mixing that would be the natural outcome of different peoples living in the same place. But race-mixing still occurred under apartheid. People want to mix with each other. The resulting racially mixed children were concrete evidence that the laws of apartheid didn’t make any sense for humanity.

“I became a chameleon.” (Chapter 4)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Noah uses the term “chameleon” throughout the book to describe his ways of moving between different groups of people. He uses his knowledge of languages to connect with a variety of people and show them his humanity, which he describes as changing their perception of his skin color.

“My mom did what school didn’t. She taught me how to think.” (Chapter 5)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Noah describes Patricia Noah’s vibrant intellect and how she encourages him to think. She asks him questions about what he’s reading and teaches him to apply lessons to his own life. Through her constant questioning and prodding, Noah also learns to think independently and analyze new information, stories, and events.

“Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being.” (Chapter 8)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: As a young man, Noah tracks down his father, Robert, and goes to see him, wondering if Robert still wants to know him. Noah is grown up, having missed his father during his teenage years, and it’s a scary question to wonder if a parent still wants a child. When Noah sees the photo album that Robert uses to keep track of Noah’s career, Noah knows that Robert has chosen to be his father.

“A fellow tribe member attempting to disavow the tribe… is something they will never forgive.” (Chapter 9)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: As a mixed-race child, Noah looks like he belongs in the Colored race category. But Colored people have a long history in South Africa with their own culture and language. Noah is seen as being too Black because he knows African languages and too white because he attends an English school. During his time living in a Colored neighborhood, where he looks like his neighbors and should fit in comfortably, he makes no friends at all.

“I was everywhere with everybody, and at the same time I was all by myself.” (Chapter 11)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Noah emphasizes his status as a constant outsider. Despite the numerous ways Noah finds to interact with different groups of people—he compares himself to a chameleon—no group is his home group. He is accepted as a kid who takes food orders, sells cheap CDs, and makes everyone laugh with his sense of humor. But he never truly fits in any group, including his own family.

“But with what raw materials are the poor to make something of themselves?” (Chapter 15)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: As the beneficiary of a business mentor, Noah sees clearly that he never could have created his own business without help and support. It took Andrew, a white teenager with education and resources that were unavailable in Black communities, to get Noah started in his bootleg business with the gift of essential equipment. Noah perceives this act as empowering and reflects that underprivileged groups need more than opportunity; they need the physical materials necessary to succeed.

“White people don’t talk to black people. So why would black people know… the white man’s world?” (Chapter 15)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Noah refers to the difference in education received by white and Black communities under apartheid. When whites colonized South Africa, they wanted Blacks to work for them. They did not want to argue about rights and privileges reserved for whites. The whites in charge provided Blacks with an education specifically designed to teach work skills and not knowledge, leaving Black people in purposeful ignorance. A Black child named Hitler is a natural consequence of the lack of knowledge of European history that was taught only in white schools.

“Crime succeeds because crime does the one thing the government doesn’t do: crime cares.” (Chapter 16)

– Trevor Noah

Analysis: Noah describes the presence of crime in a community in the absence of government services and social opportunity. He points out that crime is a grassroots culture, giving kids a helping hand, internships, and jobs with promotions. The government of South Africa was one of the most discriminatory in history, but crime doesn’t care what a person looks like or how well they did in school. In South Africa, crime is everything the government should be.

“When I beat you, I’m trying to save you. When they beat you, they’re trying to kill you.” (Chapter 17)

– Patricia Noah

Analysis: Patricia justifies her son’s beatings by saying how much she loves him and is trying to protect him from the world. She wants him to make his mistakes at home, where she can teach him right from wrong. He is embarrassed about having spent a week in jail, in the end discovering that Patricia paid for the lawyer who got him out. She is emphasizing the difference between her love for him and the real danger of the outside world.