Stephen Bantu Biko



“Freedom was his cry
some people wonder why
he died fighting for people like me
without him, where would I be?
He said, "Black man you are on your own"
then he was "small" now he is well known
He is in a grave now somewhere
The extensive pain he couldn't bare
Steven Biko you saved us from
a South Africa of which we would not belong we know you're in heaven looking down
South Africa has changed, no need to frown” 
-Bonolo Makhele (13), Johhannesberg, South Africa



Stephen Bantu Biko Bio
Born: December 18, 1946, King Williams Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Died: September 12, 1977, Pretoria detention cells, South Africa

Stephen’s life was modest. Biko began his education around 1952. While at Lovedale Institute, he was expelled from school after only 3 months because he was under interrogation by police for being a suspected member of POQO, an anti-white movement. This gave Biko a “strong resentment toward white authority.” After this, he became a political activist by engaging in educating and making Black people conscious of their dilemma under the oppressive system of the apartheid. Steve Biko began to study medicine at the University of Natal, but his involvement in politics and different organizations slowed his progression. Biko started an all-black and pro-black organization called the South African Students Organization in 1968. This became Black Consciousness, a “cultural and political revival of an oppressed people” according to Biko. Later, he established the Black People’s Convention as well as Black Community Programs.
Steve Biko was banned by the government in 1973 and confined to King William’s Town. The ban prohibited him to teach or make public addresses (speaking to more than one person at a time). Biko couldn’t go to school and he would have to report to the local police station once a week. But through all this he continued his work. He helped start different branches to teach reading, dressmaking, and others. He also initiated a health clinic for poor rural blacks.
Biko was known for his strong sexuality and had simultaneous relationships with his wife and a lover, by the name of Mamphela Ramphele, along with other various women. Woods wrote, "One cannot give a full account of the personality of Steve without mentioning his powerful sexuality."
The Terrorism Act passed by the government threatened to end the Black Consciousness Movement. After a seventeen month trial, to state the case of black consciousness, many leaders of the BPC and SASO were banned and detained. Later they were acquitted. During this time, the Soweto riots/disturbances, high school students protested the use of Afrikaans and the unjust system, began.
Biko was arrested August 18, 1977 under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. He was thirty years old, studying law through mail at University of South Africa, and physically fit when arrested. Biko was taken to Port Elizabeth, but transferred to Pretoria where he died on September 12, 1977. The cause of death was blamed on a hunger strike. Later, it was found Biko suffered major brain damage due to a blow to the head by police.
 Biko's funeral was attended by 15,000 mourners. Many more were not allowed into the funeral by security forces. Twelve Western countries sent representatives to the service, which was conducted by the Right Reverend Desmond Tutu. Biko left his wife and two children. 


Black People's Convention and Biko


Established in 1972, the Black People’s Convention served as the political front for the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. “The BPC followed their own agenda of ‘black communism’, land restitution, and guerrilla warfare against the Apartheid government.” http://africanhistory.about.com/od/glossarybb/g/def-BPC.htm The main objective of the BPC is to “liberate the Black people from psychological and physical oppression.” http://www.jstor.org/stable/4185246?seq=5 Not only were they focused on bringing equal rights to the forefront, but they also began cultural and health education programs, a literacy campaign, and other community projects. They implemented these to help the community identify their problems and to find their own solutions. They hoped to spread a political message through example. The BPC was banned by the Apartheid regime in October 1977. 
           Steve Biko was the first president of the BPC. Before becoming one of the founders of the BPC, Biko was involved with many other organizations of black consciousness groups. A few include the multiracial National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), the all-black South African Students’ Organization (SASO), and of course the over all Black Consciousness Movement. In the 1970s the Black Consciousness Movement spread from university campuses into urban black communities across South Africa. The Black People’s Convention became “an umbrella organization of black consciousness groups.” (http://www.biography.com/articles/Steve-Biko-38884)


Clip from full film : (0:36:23 - 0:40:27)


Quotes by Biko

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
Speech in Cape Town, 1971

"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."
From Steve Biko's evidence given at the SASO/BPC trial, 3 May 1976.

"So as a prelude whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior."
As quoted in the Boston Globe, 25 October 1977.

Source: City Press"Black Consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time. Its essence is the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression - the blackness of their skin - and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude."
The Quest for a True Humanity, I Write What I Like, 1978.

"Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude."
The Definition of Black Consciousness, I Write What I Like, 1978. 

"You and I are now in confrontation, but I see no Violence."

"It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die." 
Extra Sources on Steve Biko's Quotes...
Clip from full film :  (0:31:35 - 0:33:30)

Biko's Time in Jail and His Death

Steve Biko was detained and taken to Walmer Jail, Port Elizabeth and held under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act while he and a friend, Peter Jones, were traveling in a car. While in Walmer Jail, he was kept naked, manacled, and not allowed out of his cell for air or exercise for 20 days. He had a daily ration of soup, magewu, bread, jam, and coffee. According to the sergeant in command, Biko refused most of his food.
On September 6, 1977, Biko was taken in for interrogation. “The police state that they were with him from 10:30 am until 6 pm. From there he was under the care of the night squad. He was naked, and handcuffed with one leg chained to a grille. The next morning, Biko’s leg-irons and handcuffs were removed. Around this time, Biko received the blows that caused brain damage and resulted in his death five days later. When police couldn’t finish their investigation, he was handcuffed and chained to the grille again.
Later that morning, Colonel Goosen was informed of an “incident” and when he arrived Biko seemed incoherent and talked in a slurred manner. Dr. Lang was called in and made out a certificate saying there was no evidence of abnormality or pathology on Biko.
The next day, September 8th, Dr. B.J. Tucker examined Biko, who’s blankets were now soaked with urine, and decided that Biko should be transferred to the prison hospital. A lumbar puncture was performed the next day, which showed the cerebrospinal fluid to be bloodstained. Nothing was done. Biko was taken back to his cell on the 11th and found later on the floor with foam at his mouth and glassy eyes.
Steve Biko was sent to Pretoria 740 miles away. He was left naked and manacled on the floor of a land-rover, with nothing but a container of water. At Pretoria, he was left on the floor of a cell without any medical records. When a doctor saw him, with just the knowledge he was refusing to eat, a intravenous drip was ordered. Later that night, September 12th, Biko died unattended.  
For more information on Steve Biko, his time in jail, and his death follow the links below...
***A time line of Biko’s time in jail and a sequence of events while he was detained...



The Truth of Biko's Death Comes Out


The Minister of Police, James Kruger:
After Biko’s death, Kruger claimed that Biko died after a hunger strike. This resembled the bizarre reports of other deaths in detention. After much speculation and evidence that suggested Biko died of a brain injury, Kruger withdrew his initial statement.
“Justice Minister James T. Kruger said in a statement that Mr. Biko, who was 30 years old, had died in a hospital in Pretoria, the administrative capital, after refusing food and water since Sept. 5. The minister said that the cause of death would be established officially at a post-mortem to be performed by the chief state pathologist, with a private pathologist nominated by the Biko family in attendance.”
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0912.html
http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=6&page=2

The Doctors:
Dr. Lang and Tucker, the surgeons who examined Steve Biko, who was suffering from serious brain injuries, were accused of committing various acts of improper and disgraceful medical conduct. (In the film, the doctor is shown as the ‘good guys’ who sends Biko to the hospital for better care. When in reality they conformed to the police and didn’t fulfill their responsibility as doctors to help Biko.) The doctors admitted that they had subordinated the interests of their patient to that of the security police. Eight years after Biko’s death, their case was reviewed and no disciplinary action was taken.

Indications of a brain injury that were found and ignored and not excluded to:
  • ·         An unequivocal extensor plantar reflex on left
  • ·         An impaired level of consciousness
  • ·         A weakness of the left leg and arm
  • ·         Presence of red blood cells in spinal fluid
  • ·         Substantial swelling of lip and lacerations
  • ·         Bruise over sternum
  • ·         Ring-marks around both wrists
  • ·         Oedema in both hands, feet, and ankles
  • ·         Ataxic gait and pronounced limp
  • ·         Thick or slurred speech
  • ·         Vague pains in the head and back
  • ·         Left knew reflex was unobtainable
Despite these indications, Biko received no medical treatment.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1096126?seq=1

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission:
Concluded in 1998, nearly 20 years later, the TRC found that police would use different types of torture and assault during interrogation of detainees. Five policemen came forward and confessed to have beaten Biko, causing his brain injuries. “Because detention legislation allowed interrogation to be carried out in secrecy, the police had the protection of the state when their actions were investigated.” They applied for amnesty for the assault of Biko and others. They confessed and gave details of the treatment of Biko. They were denied amnesty because they could not prove their actions were politically motivated. The police escaped conviction and punishment in the end. “The TRC process did not bring out the full truth about Biko's death; however, the testimonies of the policemen and Peter Jones, along with the forensic evidence, confirmed the state's guilt in Biko's death and served as a powerful example of the brutality and inhumanity with which apartheid's policemen treated political detainees.”
http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=6&page=2











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