The Impact of Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa

In Trevor Noah’s memoir Born A Crime, one of the main topics that is discussed is racism. This is a very serious topic that is being touched on throughout the entire memoir. The memoir is about how the protagonist Trevor Noah was basically Born A Crime by being a light skinned child in a majority all black or white community. His mother was black and his father was indeed white. The apartheid is a cruel system that combines the 3 stages of racism,-segregation, forced displacement, and slavery all into one. All of humanity should be aware of the effects of racism and how it influenced the apartheid in order to avoid this obscenity from happening again.

Since the apartheid was around when Trevor was a kid he never got see his dad as much as he’d really liked, and with things such as neighbours and peers being racist to him as well for just being a product of a biracial relationship he never had a regular life really where no one would stare and talk about him behind his back or made fun of him just because of his parents relationship resulted in him being light skinned. The points that I will be discussing is one starting with the racism to light skinned kids and the foreshamming on their parents for falling in love with someone of a different race then them, the second one is how the apartheid exploited skin colour which is the minor differences among groups to have the not focus on the bigger things that are going on around them.

The racism towards the kids who were just the products of the parents who had interracial sex was unacceptable. In the apartheid times it was seen as the kids were somewhat responsible for what their parents did. Neighbours and peers would say their opinions on what they think of the situation that has nothing to do with them at all which really affected badly for South Africa as a country. The rumours and speaking on what you’re thinking instead of just keeping your mouth closed, is what really made the apartheid an even more traumatic and dreadful time. When Trevor was born his mother would bring him outside and when he was younger it was way easier to hide him in a blanket or such but as he got older she can't really hide him any longer. “I couldn’t walk with my mother, either; a light-skinned child with a black woman would raise too many questions.

When I was a newborn, she could wrap me up and take me anywhere, but very quickly that was no longer an option. I was a giant baby, an enormous child. When I was one you’d have thought I was two. When I was two, you’d have thought I was four. There was no way to hide me.” (Trevor Noah 27-28).When Trevor's story was compared with others who had similar treatment with the apartheid it clearly shows how many close minded and racist people their were back then because thats all they knew how to be. 'I'm much happier with black people. I am, I was, very shy with white people. Even today I still think white people don't like black people because of the way they treated me.' A mild way of putting things from someone who was expelled from school, mocked, abused, persecuted and told she was inferior, something less than fully human, because she lacked the pinkness expected of an Afrikaner descended from Dutch settlers.

The nose and lips could be European but the skin is evidence of a liaison between a settler and native, perhaps as early as the 18th century.” (Sandra Laing). When Trevor was younger he never really got to be with his father because of the fact that the apartheid kept them away from each other and they lost touch. Whenever Trevor is with his dad in the streets he has to act like he has no idea who his father is. “My mother tells me that once, when I was a toddler, my dad tried to go with us. We were in the park, he was walking a good bit away from us, and I ran after him, screaming, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” People started looking. He panicked and ran away. I thought it was a game and kept chasing him.” (Trevor Noah 27). The fact that he couldn’t even walk with his father or even be seen with him shows how appalling this time in society really was to the people of South Africa. This really shows how in control the government was to everyone in the apartheid.

The apartheid exploited the minor differences between everybody such as their skin colour among the groups to keep them focused on one another and not on the bigger picture which was the government. To ensure that this was accurate they made sure that the coloured that they separated the coloured people together to ensure xhosa and zulus were remained at eachothers throats. “The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other. Apart hate, is what it was. You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all.” (Trevor Noah). “Not that they were incapable of cooperating, but the government made any sort of contact impossible.

When a Zulu and a Xhosa met, they did not see the common cause that tied them, they looked for differences. This cold-minded thinking was efficient, but it reduced the human condition to pawns on a political board.Implementing physical and psychological barriers implied the existence of logical rules and dogmas. From his birth, Trevor, as a mixed person, embedded the rejection of these rules and their shortcomings.” (Nicolas Rault). So they use the zulu and xhosa ‘wars’ in order to distract the people on what they’re planning and so they can have control over their people to the point where they chose which tribes are fighting each other.

Even after South Africa becomes a democracy in many ways the apartheid conditions still continue “In South Africa, the atrocities of apartheid have never been taught that way. We weren't taught judgment or shame. We were taught history the way it's taught in America. In America, the history of racism is taught like this: 'There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it's done.' It was the same for us. 'Apartheid was bad. Nelson Mandela was freed. Let's move on.” (Trevor Noah). Trevor explained how really it should be now that the apartheid is over and done with. Everyone should just grow up and get over the fact that things have changed since the way they were before it shows that the economy can grow from even the worst periods of history in order to do better in the future; which is now. This emphasizes on how to economy is becoming more and more inclusive and less closed minded, every single day.

The emphasis on the uniquely vicious nature of South Africa’s apartheid and post-apartheid inequality. This is shown by the many different ways that the apartheid has affected this economy that are long lasting and will probably always be around. “In the history of civil rights, South Africa lays claim to a momentous achievement — the demolition of apartheid and the construction of a democracy. But for black South Africans, who account for three-fourths of this nation of roughly 55 million people, political liberation has yet to translate into broad material gains. Apartheid has essentially persisted in economic form.” (Peter S. Goodman). In a broader sense the apartheid has left a racially influenced sized hole in South Africa that may or may not ever be fixed in the future years to come.

The millions of the South African black community is struggling to find jobs. Less than half of the working age population is officially employed. “ Large swaths of the black population remain hunkered down in squalor, on land they do not legally own.” (Peter S. Goodman).Noah continually points out to apartheid’s effects and global effects (including the United States where the system is modeled there as well). Showing the long lasting effects of the apartheid, it shows how South Africa can be used as a case study in order to understand the way that governments cultivate misery among segments of their populations deemed enemies to the interests of those in power, and how this often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, ensuring that poverty and violence become ways of life in those communities.

In the end post-apartheid is the most growth and healing that our economy can do now, to show how much stronger we are now that we got through most of the biggest parts of the apartheid. They’re things we really need to work on in order to improve our world as a whole in order to make it a better place. All of humanity should have been aware of the effects of racism and how it influenced the apartheid in order to avoid this obscenity from happening ever again. Even though I believe that this should really help the way our economy is run around the world with racism and how it should grow in the future to become better the apartheid still is present in South Africa maybe not as bad as it was before but still very significant to coloured people. “Beyond the figures, corruption has become endemic, badly tainting the government apparatus and public companies, especially in the 2009-2018 term of president Jacob Zuma who was eventually forced from office.

Against a backdrop of growing social and economic divisions, racial tensions are again rising to the surface in the 'Rainbow Nation' of many races dreamed of by Mandela. A key issue is white land ownership, a constant complaint for the majority black population who feel they have been cheated out of what should rightfully be theirs. In the black townships, where many live without electricity, running water or decent housing, there is growing resentment that their needs are not being met. Some even appear to regret the passing of apartheid.” (France 24). This really needs to change it’s sad to hear that coloured people are still going through the minds of the 19th century surrounding them in a 21st century world.