Born a Crime

could no longer keep her in
Transkei. My mom wrote to my
gran, asking her to send the price of
a train ticket, about thirty rand, to
bring her home. Back in Soweto, my
mom enrolled in the secretarial
course that allowed her to grab hold
of the bottom rung of the white-
collar world. She worked and
worked and worked but, living
under my grandmother’s roof, she
wasn’t allowed to keep her own
wages. As a secretary, my mom was
bringing home more money than
anyone else, and my grandmother
insisted it all go to the family. The
family needed a radio, an oven, a