Steve Biko quotes

Steve Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist and leader of the Black Consciousness Movement. His work inspired a new sense of pride and empowerment among black South Africans during a time of severe racial oppression. He became a symbol of resistance after he died in police custody under suspicious circumstances. Here are 20 of his quotes:

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. (Steve Biko)
In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift-a more human face. View quote
Steve Biko
You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can't care anyway. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. View quote
Steve Biko
Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude. View quote
Steve Biko
Apartheid - both petty and grand - is obviously evil. Nothing can justify the arrogant assumption that a clique of foreigners has the right to decide on the lives of a majority. View quote
Steve Biko
Apartheid - both petty and grand - is obviously evil. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
We must realise that prophetic cry of black students: "Black man you are on your own!" (Steve Biko)
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. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
This is the extent to which the process of dehumanization has advanced. View quote
Steve Biko
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. 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. View quote
Steve Biko
A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial look, but the great gift still has to come from Africa - giving the world a more human face. View quote
Steve Biko
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. View quote
Steve Biko
Change the way people think and things will never be the same. View quote
Steve Biko