Author Archives: Jose Perez

Chameleon by Trevor Noah is a self memoir on the racial experience Noah experienced back home in  South Africa. Noah describes his experience as being treated differently amongst his family, and his race due to his lighter complexion. As he describes it, black doesn’t have a particular set in stone identity due to the different complexions an individual maybe, but lighter complections will get the better end of the stick.  Throughout the memoir, Noah centralizes on the issues of being a lighter completion in the South African society, and similar to many western cultures and society, the difference in treatment due to race and ethnicity is present. For example, as Noah claims, he received special treatment from everyone, even his family members due to his lighter complexion. Noah’s father was a German man, while his mother was a South African native (from the Xhosa tribe). Due to his Fathers white skin, he was born with a fairer complexion, and while his mother being black, he was lighter than everyone around his community. Including all the other black kids in his neighborhood, family, and any individual who were also black at his school. Overall, Noah connects the personal and political setting in his home country by using his own personal experiences with the advantages and disadvantages his completion brings to him. Advantages that were present to him and could be related to any other light completion individual is a better treatment in society. claiming that his cousins would be punished physically, but he was left untouched due to the fear his family members had of hurting a “White child”. Further on, social settings will also present better opportunities for having lighter skin. For instance, in school Noah was placed in classes with other lighter completion students. When asked why, he was simply told that he had good test scores, but in reality, all the students in the “A” class were also lighter complexion students. Another personal and political connection Noah can make is language helps unite people, regardless of their skin color. In the memoir, Noah claims a group of individuals were” so ready to do me violent harm until they felt we were apart of the same tribe, and then they were cool. He then claims “That and so many other small incidents in my life, made me realize that language, even more than color defines who you are to people”, believing people are more accepting when they realize similar language is spoken amongst another. It destroys racial structure because, with language, there is communication, while race and color are more subliminal making it harder to comprehend and connect due to unconscious thought. The reason I choose this article is that it presents a powerful and philosophical approach. Many believe color is what devices us, but in reality, language is the bigger factor. I agree with Noah because is present in my community. Hispanics have various skin colors, and a lot of the time individuals see another who doesn’t resemble their “stereotype” and assumes them not to be Hispanic. When the Spanish language is then heard,  the previous perception goes from not being Hispanic to being Hispanic.