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Reflections on race and discrimination from "summary" of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Growing up in South Africa, I was always aware of the color of my skin. Race was not just a social construct, but a matter of life and death. The apartheid regime had created a system that dehumanized people based on their skin color. As a mixed-race child, I was a living testament to the crime of my existence. My very presence challenged the laws that sought to keep people like me separate and unequal. Discrimination was a constant reality in my life. I faced prejudice from all sides - from black people who saw me as too white, from white people who saw me as too black. I was neither fully accepted nor fully rejected by either group. I was a living contradiction, a walking reminder of the unnatural divisions that had been imposed on us by a racist government. The legacy of apartheid was not just about laws and policies; it was about attitudes and beliefs. Racism was deeply ingrained in the fabric of South African society. It was not enough to change the laws; we had to change hearts and minds. We had to confront the prejudice that lay dormant in our own souls, passed down from generation to generation like a poisonous inheritance. As I navigated the complexities of race and discrimination, I learned to adapt and survive. I learned to code-switch, to speak different languages and adopt different personas depending on the situation. I learned to read people, to anticipate their biases and play to their expectations. I learned to be a chameleon, blending in wherever I went, constantly vigilant and on guard. But beneath the surface of my survival instincts lay a deep sense of injustice and anger. I resented the fact that my very existence was a political statement, a defiance of the racist laws that sought to define and divide us. I resented the fact that I had to constantly prove my worth and justify my identity to a world that was determined to put me in a box. Despite the challenges and hardships I faced, I never lost hope. I believed in the power of resilience and resistance, in the ability of individuals to rise above their circumstances and challenge the status quo. I believed in the possibility of a future where race and discrimination would no longer dictate our destinies. And I was determined to be a part of that change, to speak out against injustice and inequality wherever I saw it. In the end, my reflections on race and discrimination were not just about personal experiences or political realities; they were about the human spirit and its capacity for resilience and redemption
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