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I think the central theme about black society is that it has got elements of a defeated society

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
Black
Think
Thinking
Defeated
Central
Theme
Elements
Society

More quotes by 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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We believe in the inherent goodness of man.
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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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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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.
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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The essence of politics is to direct oneself to the group which wields power
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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Black Consciousness is in essence the realization by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression.
Steven Biko
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What Black Consciousness seeks to do is to produce real black people who do not regard themselves as appendages to white society. We do not need to apologise for this because it is true that the white systems have produced through the world a number of people who are not aware that they too are people.
Steven Biko
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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.
Steven Biko
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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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A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine.
Steven Biko
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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
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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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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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
Steven Biko
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Change the way people think and things will never be the same
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