The Black Tax By Trevor Noah

1908 Words4 Pages

I just finished the excellent book Trevor Noah’s born a crime. Trevor was born in South Africa under Apartheid to a Black Xhosa mother and a Swiss-German father. He recounts “the only time I could be with my father was indoors” or if he was with his mother and the police came she would pretend not to know who he was since being mixed under apartheid was illegal. The book details snapshots of his life in the township of Soweto, where his maternal grandmother lived and he gives an unsettling yet honest account of growing up in South Africa under Apartheid. I absolutely loved this memoir, Trevor is a gifted storyteller that I could relate to yet sympathize with at the same time. One term in this book that resonated with me is ‘The Black Tax.’ …show more content…

My mom, Trevor’s mother, and probably millions of other black mothers are determined that their children would not grow up paying the black tax. As the “pioneer” of a black family (the first person to go college or make it out of the hood) you don’t get to just move forward and be successful, due to the curse that is the black tax, but you can give your children the opportunity to do so and the best way to give your children that opportunity is through education. My mom always told me something her father said: “you can have everything taken away from you, but the one thing no one can take from you is knowledge.” Trevor’s mother told Trevor that his childhood would bear no resemblance to hers. Patricia gave Trevor the tools to succeed. She taught him English as his 1st language, provided him with tons of books, and used her job to get Trevor into an expensive private Catholic school where he would receive the best education possible. My mom did the exact same. I spent more time reading with her in the library, studying for spelling tests, watching school house rock, and practicing math than we did in our own house. My mom, a guidance counselor, lied about our address to get me into the rich white public school outside of our district. She wanted me to get the best education possible …show more content…

The pioneer of any black family had to spend time, money, and resources ensuring that the rest of the family could live a regular life and by doing so missed out on that for themselves. Trevor said his mother wanted him to be free to go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. Growing up my mom always wanted me to have freedom of choice as well, she wanted me to be able to choose my profession, choose my college, choose the state I want to live, and choose to be able to travel one day. She was adamant about me not being bound to anyone or anything, my mom’s options were always limited. She had to go to school in Atlanta to be able to help take care of her sister, babysit her brother’s kids, and send the money that she got from her two jobs in college to my grandmother. She never had the financial means to travel although she’s always wanted to go to Paris. She wanted to be a lawyer, but couldn’t afford law school so she used her psychology and education degree and became a guidance counselor instead. She always said, “I just want you to be better than me.” If I got in trouble at school, got silent lunch, skipped class, made a bad grade, etc. her responsive would be “I just you want you to be better than me.” I’ve literally gotten whopped multiple times for the sole reason for not being better than my mom. One time I was failing Algebra 2 and my mom came in my room blubbering on

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