Trevor Noah is a South African comedian who was born in 1984. His mother is Black and his father is white. It was literally against the law for him to exist. His mother was a bold, faithful woman. She made sure they went to, “three churches every Sunday, a prayer meeting on Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday and youth church on Thursday.” Church was a place where they were in community; where they remembered time and again that they were children of God, loved and holy, no matter what the laws of their nation said.
In an unwelcoming world, danger was around every corner. But his mother had a knack for learning languages. When people spoke to her, she could often respond in the same language. Just hearing their own language seemed to shift the balance in so many situations. Like his mother, Trevor learned six different languages and many dialects. Once, when he was young, there were some Zulu guys who were approaching him in a way that made him uneasy. Assuming that he wouldn’t understand their language, they started openly talking to each other about their plans to attack him and mug him. Trevor understood them, but he knew he couldn’t fight them; he knew he didn’t have time to run away. He turned around and spoke to them in Zulu: “Yo, guys, why don’t we just mug someone together? I’m ready. Let’s do it.”
After what must have seemed like an endless silence, the guys started cracking up. They said, “Oh, sorry dude. We thought you were something else. We weren’t trying to take anything from you…. Have a good day, man.” In a moment, he went from someone who was about to be violently attacked to someone who was cool to let go on his way. Over and over, he describes this experience of tense/angry/suspicious encounters that changed on a dime when he spoke another language. Once they heard him speak, it’s like their thinking reformed: “Oh, OK. I thought you were a stranger. We’re good then.”
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_a_Crime
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/503009220
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee