Trevor Noah, who began his career as a comedian in South Africa in 2002 and took over the American political satire news show The Daily Show in 2015, has been named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time Magazine.
Noah's comments on politics and current affairs, both ironic and humorous, have a black comedy flavor. He is always funny and humorous on the screen, and it is easy to think that he should also be a lucky person, living a sunny life since childhood, and always smiling with each other. However, Noah, who was born under the apartheid system, had a colored childhood that we ordinary people could not imagine.
If each of us is born the crystallization of parental love, then Noah is the crystallization of parental sin.
Beginning in the mid-17th century, the Dutch and The British came to South Africa and established colonies. In order to promote white domination, they established the most advanced apartheid system in human history, leaving blacks under absolute control. Interracial relations were illegal during apartheid and were one of the most serious crimes. Violation of the law will result in five years in prison. There are special police squads, and nothing else, they just take aim at the back windows of other people's homes all day long. If an interracial couple is caught. The police would kick them open, drag them out, beat them up, and take them back to jail.
Noah's mother was black in South Africa and his father was white in Switzerland.
So, Noah was born guilty.
Half of his body was white blood, half black blood. He was born in violation of numerous laws.
As a child, the only time Noah could spend with his father was indoors. Outdoors, father and son cannot walk together, but can only walk on both sides of the road. Once, noah, who was still ignorant, chased his father in the park and shouted, "Daddy! Father! Of course, this attracted the attention of others, and it really frightened his father. Daddy runs away, and the innocent Noah thinks it's a game and keeps chasing Daddy in the back!
In our view, apartheid makes the companionship between father and son so deformed.
However, Noah and his mother also have the innate power of normal people. At that time, the government forcibly divided the people into blacks, whites, and people of color by blood. Noah was born black and white, and he was classified as a man of color. Noah is legal only if he appears in communities of color. In other words, he and his mother cannot appear in the public eye at the same time. A black woman walking with a light-skinned child will attract police pursuit.
Daily activities become like walking on thin ice. When Noah's mother went out, she would invite Quinn, a woman of color in the apartment, with her. Quinn and Noah walk together, pretending that Quinn is Noah's mother. Noah's mother followed Quinn, pretending to be Quinn's maid. When Quinn has no time to accompany Noah's mother and son, the mother and son will also take risks. However, be constantly vigilant against the appearance of the police. As soon as there is a policeman's shadow, the mother immediately scatters Noah's hand, otherwise it will be a prison disaster.
Not only did the apartheid system draw a clear line between blacks and whites, it also made different tribes of blacks hate each other in order to strengthen white control and domination over blacks.
One weekend, Noah and his mother finished their worship service and waited for the minibus on the side of the road. In that dark age, black people were not allowed to take public transportation. The minibus was equivalent to the underground transportation created by the blacks themselves. Different tribes are responsible for different routes, and of course it is common to fight for blood and flesh in order to rob the route. Noah's mother and son couldn't wait for the minibus and tried to take a ride. I finally got on the hitchhiker, and soon after I got on the road, I was stopped by a small bus that crossed out. The reason is that this hitchhiker has robbed the small bus of the business. The driver of the minibus rushed forward and beat the driver of the hitchhiker with a thick stick, almost killing the driver. In the face of violence, Noah's mother and son almost climbed into the minibus in an instant. The driver of the minibus was Zulu, and Noah and his mother were Xhosa. The Zulu and Xhosa are two major local tribes, and of course opposing tribes. Confronted with a Xhosa woman and her mixed-race son, the minibus driver began to swear and grin, "A Xhosa woman with a chaotic life, with a man of color." Or a colored person who slept with white people. At this point, Noah's mother and son face not only verbal abuse, but also rape and killing. Death is most likely the next second. The driver ran wildly along the country road, and the whole road was empty. At an intersection, when the speed of the car slowed down slightly, Noah's mother threw him out of the car and jumped down at the same time. The two rolled out of the car, ignoring the pain in their bodies, and desperately ran forward. This may be the instinct of animals, when the danger is rife, in order to survive, you will become braver than ever. Finally, escaped the disaster.
Jumping out of a car to escape is commonplace for Noah or for thousands of people under apartheid. Or rather, that's part of their lives. From an early age they could only live in slums because they were black. They deserve only the lowest education, because they are black. They were stopped by the police on the road for no reason because they were black. Bloodshed and violence were everywhere because they were black.
When it comes to the worst crimes of all time, one often thinks of the massacre of Jews by the Nazis in Germany. That's because the Germans recorded it, and there is a clear record of 6 million Jews dying here. Children in Germany have to know the history of the Holocaust before they graduate from high school. It's not just the thing itself, but why such a tragedy happened and what kind of consequences it caused. As a result, Germans have a proper understanding of this when they grow up and are sorry for it.
And the historical tragedy of apartheid for blacks does not seem to have been seriously examined. How many black people died when Portugal and Belgium burned and looted in Angola and congo? There are no numbers, only guesses. How many black Congolese people died from harvesting rubber? How many blacks died in the gold and diamond mines of the Transvaal?
Now that the crimes of the Nazis in Germany are a thing of the past, is apartheid really over? Did blacks really fight for equal rights? Did the European powers really promote their development or did they colonize africa in another way?