Week 2: Jesus Medina

In “Chameleon”, Trevor Noah writes about living as light-skinned person during Apartheid South Africa. Trevor had a German father and a black mother which made him look different from everyone else who he lived around. In the town where he lived, 99.9% of the population were black which made Trevor really stand out. He would get treated differently from his neighbors and even his own family. For example, his grandmother would treat him as if he were white. She wouldn’t beat him because she was afraid of hurting a white person. Instead, she would give his beating to his cousins because they were black and nothing would happen to them. His grandfather would also treat him differently as well. He went as extreme as to call Trevor “Mastah”. He always made sure he sat in the backseat. Overall, Trevor was given more of a lenient treatment as opposed to the black kids. This text raises the issue that the color of your skin can make people treat you differently. Depending on where you are, anywhere in the world, there will come a time where you are treated different simply because your skin color is different than the majority. For example, here in the US you are more likely to get followed when you enter a store if you are black. Also, the police give white people a lenient treatment as opposed to black people. In the text, Trevor says “Growing up the way I did, I learned how easy it is for white people to get comfortable with a system that awards them all the perks”. I see this as a reason as to why a percentage of white people don’t agree with the protests going on. They don’t want anything to change. They don’t want to see a system that benefits them so much to be gone. They are comfortable with it and don’t mind how it negatively effects others. I chose this text because I have been in situations where I am treated better because I have lighter skin. Colorism is a big problem where I come from in D.R. so I’ve been put in many situations where I see this issue come to life.