Steve Biko

Stephen Bantu Biko (December 18, 1946 – September 12 1977) was a noted nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s. He was a student at the University of Fort Hare. Because he was dissatisfied with the National Union of South African Students, he helped found the South African Students' Organization in 1968 and was elected its first president. In 1972, Biko became honorary president of the Black People's Convention. He was banned during the height of apartheid in March 1973, meaning that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time and so could not make speeches in public. It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations, or to otherwise mention him.

Quotes

• "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
  ("White Racism and Black Consciousness", in I Write What I Like)
• "The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country. Not so long ago this used to be freely said in parliament, even about the educational system of the black people. It is still said even today, although in a much more sophisticated language. To a large extent the evil-doers have succeeded in producing at the output end of their machine a kind of black man who is man only in form. This is the extent to which the process of dehumanization has advanced.?
  ("We Blacks", ibid.)
• "The system concedes nothing without demand, for it formulates its very method of operation on the basis that the ignorant will learn to know, the child will grow into an adult and therefore demands will begin to be made. It gears itself to resist demands in whatever way it sees fit."
  ("The Quest for a True Humanity", ibid.)
• "In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift—a more human face."
• "It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die."
• "Even today, we are still accused of racism. This is a mistake. We know that all interracial groups in South Africa are relationships in which whites are superior, blacks inferior. So as a prelude whites must be made to realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior."