Steven Biko Quotes

South Africa, Activist
December 19, 1946 – September, 12, 1977.

Bantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.

The revolutionary sees his task as liberation not only of the oppressed but also of the oppressor. Happiness can never truly exist in a state of tension.

Steven Biko
A people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine.

Steven Biko
- People
- History
- Vehicle

You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can't care anyway.

Steven Biko
- Proud
- Dead
- Alive
Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.

Steven Biko
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

Steven Biko
- Mind
- Weapon
- Oppressor
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
- Truth
- Change
- Personality
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.

Steven Biko
The fact that apartheid has been tied up with white supremacy, capitalist exploitation, and deliberate oppression makes the problem much more complex. Material want is bad enough, but coupled with spiritual poverty, it kills.

Steven 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.

Steven Biko
- Wealth
- Lie
- Privilege
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.

Steven Biko
- Human
- Face
- Africa