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Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.

Steven Biko

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Steven Biko
Age: 30 †
Born: 1946
Born: December 18
Died: 1977
Died: September 12
Activist
Civil Rights Advocate
Politician
Trade Unionist
Writer
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Bantu Stephen Biko
Matter
Pigmentation
Pigment
Reflection
Mental
Attitude
Black

More quotes by Steven Biko

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I would like to remind the black ministry and indeed all black people that God is not in the habit of coming down from heaven to solve people's problems on earth.
Steven Biko
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It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.
Steven Biko
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I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be.
Steven Biko
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A community is easily divide when their perception of the same thing is different
Steven Biko
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The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country.
Steven Biko
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In all fields black consciousness seeks to talk to the black man in a language that is his own
Steven Biko
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The oneness of community for instance is at the heart of our culture.
Steven Biko
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We are experiencing new problems every day and whatever we do adds to the richness of our cultural heritage as long as it has man as its centre
Steven Biko
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The basic tenet of black consciousness is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity.
Steven Biko
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Any warning normally implies, even if it is tacit, that there should be changes
Steven Biko
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It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realize that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality.
Steven Biko
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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.
Steven Biko
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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.
Steven Biko
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You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can't care anyway.
Steven Biko
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We believe in the inherent goodness of man.
Steven Biko
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I am against the fact that a settler minority should impose an entire system of values on an indigenous people.
Steven Biko
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In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift - a more human face.
Steven Biko
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Tradition has it that whenever a group of people has tasted the lovely fruits of wealth, security and prestige it begins to find it more comfortable to believe in the obvious lie and accept that it alone is entitled to privilege.
Steven Biko
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Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.
Steven Biko
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A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine.
Steven Biko