Steven Biko Essay -- Papers Racism South Africa

Steven Biko "We are looking forward to a non-racial, just and egalitarian society in which color, creed and race shall form no point of reference." - Steve Biko South Africa is home to a great supply of natural resources, inherent beauty, and one of the greatest political and social travesties of the modern era. The South African government has suppressed native African peoples for hundreds of years. In the last century the situation has gotten progressively worse through governmental legislation lead by the racist Afrikaner Nation Party. This injustice lasted unchallenged until the late 1950's when legislation became even more protective of the National Party's hold of political, economic, and social power. Social movements of every country and era rise and fall; Africa is no different. As leaders have come and gone, gathering public support against the government, the dangerous reality has been slowly sinking in. Political activist and former student leader, Steve Biko firmly believed that South Africa could eventually exist as an egalitarian society, free of racism. Biko's contribution to the South African freedom fight is invaluable. The South African government practiced banning which, prohibited anyone quoting Biko, the publication of any of his written work or the documentation of his character in any positive way. Banning was not uncommon in South Africa. The person had to remain in their assigned district and could not leave under any circumstances. The banned person could not be in the presence of more than one person at a time; the only exception being immediate family. It also forbade the person from writing (publishing) and speaking in public. Once a week the person was required to report to the local Se... ... popularity grew after his death because he was no longer seen as a leader, but rather a martyr. So why is South Africa still under white control? My answer to that is that talk is cheap and publicity even cheaper. The support and headlines were all that was given. Nothing permanent or structured was offered to the blacks. Today, a little less than thirty years later, I had trouble finding books on Steve Biko. To the western world he was a fad. Bibliography: Bibliography Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like. Ed. By Stubbs C.R., Aelred. Harper and Row Publishers, San Francisco. 1978. Dugard, John, Haysom, Nicholas and Marcus, Gilbert. The Last Years of Apartheid: Civil Liberties in South Africa. Ford Foundation, New York. 1992. Woods, Donald. Biko, the revised edition. Henry Holy and Co., New York. 1987. I also viewed the movie Cry Freedom