10 quotes
That’s how a police state works - everyone thinks everyone else is the police.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
People built homes the way they bought eggs: a little at a time.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
People don’t want to be rich. They want to be able to choose. The richer you are, the more choices you have. That is the freedom of money.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
Growing up in a home of abuse, you struggle with the notion that you can love a person you hate, or hate a person you love. It’s a strange feeling. You want to live in a world where someone is good or bad, where you either hate them or love them, but that’s not how people are.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
The end of apartheid was a gradual thing. Concessions were made here and there, some laws were repealed, others simply weren’t enforced.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
If you’re Native American and you pray to the wolves, you’re a savage. If you’re African and you pray to your ancestors, you’re a primitive. But when white people pray to a guy who turns water into wine, well, that’s just common sense.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
The more time I spent in jail, the more I realized that the law isn’t rational at all. It’s a lottery. What color is your skin? How much money do you have? Who’s your lawyer? Who’s the judge?
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)
There were so many perks to being ‘white’ in a black family, I can’t even front. I was having a great time. My own family basically did what the American justice system does: I was given more lenient treatment than the black kids.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)