Monthly Archives: September 2020

“Who  ran the  Number Racket? Mom” is an autobiography written by Bridgett Davis about her  mom who gamed the system and won. Davis’s father found it very difficult to get and keep work in the auto plants & in the auto factories, in the city, because there was racial discrimination towards the migrated black men who tried to get work. However, to get money, her mom had asked her brother for $100, because he had a stable job, and with that she started an “underground illegal gambling business.” When her mother started doing this, it was during a conflicting time of the fight for civil rights. It took about five years until the state lottery commission found her mom’s underground operation, and decided to be in direct competition with it. Bridgett on the other hand, was all over the place, because she couldn’t brag about how proud she is of  her mom, despite the fact that what she did was illegal. What she was really  proud of her mom for, was that she was actually earning loads of cash with this “business.” With that money she bought multiple properties, which Bridgett was then able to inherit, that she sold and used to invest in a co-op in New York City, in Brooklyn. One of the main issues that arose in the book is the struggle for black people to earn some kind of change during the struggle for civil rights, without being discriminated against, also known as systemic racism. Bridgetts family was lucky enough to have  made it through after so many riots, and her dad’s dilemma of not being able to get and keep a job, because of the discriminatory practices in the factories. “She had migrated with my dad and my three oldest [siblings] to Detroit in the mid ’50s.” I thought this quote was very significant, because up till now we still have people migrating everywhere, because they want a different lifestyle or they felt unsafe in their neighborhood, but they still are being treated differently than everyone else. With that being said, Bridgett’s story about her mom is similar to how my mom grew up. Yes she did struggle to get money, but not during a problematic time. My mom and her family grew up with very little money, and my mom just had enough money to get rides to and from school. She worked as a cashier in something similar to a dollar store. I say similar, because it wasn’t a dollar store in the U.S, it was in Trinidad, so the prices were different, but they sold the same stuff. This story made me look at the fact that people can still be cruel even during hard times from a different perspective.

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.

Angie Cruz’s essay “What we Deserve” caught my attention from the begging. The format Cruz decided to use to organize the story of her mother caught the readers attention due to it’s chronological template. The story begins with a photograph that has a story behind it that you can’t see, the picture of her mom and the rest of her family is only the tip of the iceberg.  The central issues of the text is to raise the awareness of the audience of how much women suffer and suffered due to an unjust law system through her mother’s story. In the photograph it shows how a very young girl the age of 11 is just staring at the camera, but Cruz informs the reader that the young girl in the photograph is about to be sent away by her family to be married to man that promised a better life. Her mom’s personal life was out of her control due to how unfair the government was to women at the time and because of the desperation of getting out of property was far more important then a girl’s life. Cruz does a great job in describing the political issues when her mother was growing up, but also does a great job comparing the political issues immigrants face in today’s age as well. Cruz compares her mom’s situation to Magdalena’s where her father was taken away by ICE in Mississippi leaving her begging for someone’s help knowing her father did nothing wrong.  According to the essay is states “News microphone is recording her, most likely without parental consent. She says to the world about her father, “He’s not a criminal.” When I look at the video of Magdalena, I see a child who needs her parents.”. These are the issues we see today, parents willing to sacrifice everything to seek better opportunities for their family in a foreign country but end up being separated and unable to do anything about it. This text really made me think of how privileged I am, not having to worry about being separated from my hard working family or not having a decision on my future. But also reminds me why my parents came to this nation although they knew they had to start over and were going to be mistreated at times, it makes me extremely grateful, because of them I have the opportunities many don’t have.

In Born a Crime, Chameleon is about Noah Trevor, who is a mixed individual. His mom is black, and his father is white (German). Growing up in a rural town filled with black people (Apartheid era in South Africa), he stood out the most. He was treated differently from the other black kids, he wasn’t punished, and he got away with things he did. He addresses his struggles of growing up in a segregated society. He wanted to be accepted, and he tried to embrace being him. One of the useful things that made him belong with the black people were speaking multiple languages which was one of the  skills that helped him belong with the black people. Growing up, he was treated like royalty just because of his skin color, which shows how the racial system worked and how it not only impacts one place but different places across the world. “I became a chameleon. My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my color. If you spoke to me in Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you” This is such a powerful perception because he uses his skills to blend in and not feel different from the others. He wanted to fit in. This shows that language can bring people together than their skin color. This quote speaks volumes because I grew up learning three languages (Sinhala, Tamil, and English).  Language was one thing that brought me closer to people rather than my ethnicity or religion. If I didn’t speak Tamil, relatives back in my home country would call me “Americanized” or “posh” because they think I forgot about my roots. If I talk to them in Tamil, they’ll be surprised and question me. And eventually, get along with me because I spoke to them in Tamil. Just like Noah mentioned, he conveys the idea that speaking someone’s native language is a way to combat racism. Although he was privileged, he still chose to be black because he was raised in a black environment with black culture and a black family despite his father being white.