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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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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
Values
Rejects
Black
Systems
Human
Basic
Humans
Dignity
Tenet
Country
Seek
Foreigner
Must
Birth
Foreigners
Make
Value
Reject
Men
Consciousness
Reduce

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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
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Part of the approach envisaged in bringing about Black Consciousness has to be directed to the past, to seek to rewrite the history of the black man and to produce in it the heroes who form the core of the African background
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The oneness of community for instance is at the heart of our culture.
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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.
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Sure there are a few good whites just as much as there are a few bad Blacks. However what we are concerned here with is group attitudes and group politics. The exception does not make a lie or the rule - it merely substantiates it.
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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.
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If one is free at heart, no man-made chains can bind one to servitude.
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WOMEN must be at the forefront of nation-building to bring the South African citizenry together and, therefore, develop a whole new ethos of human co-existence
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Black Consciousness therefore takes cognizance of the deliberateness of God's plan in creating Black people black.
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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.
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I think the central theme about black society is that it has got elements of a defeated society
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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.
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This is white man's integration, an integration based on exploitative values
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Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.
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Any warning normally implies, even if it is tacit, that there should be changes
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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.
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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.
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The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country.
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The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look but the great gift still has to come from Africa - giving the world a more human face.
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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.
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