excerpts from BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, STEVE BIKO, edited by Millard Arnold, Biko's testimony during a trial of his supporters. The complete transcript is recorded in this book.
excerpts from NEWSWEEK, 10, 1997, REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, by Donald Woods (South African Journalist and Biko's friend)
remembrances from CRY FREEDOM, movie in 1987, sensitively and articulately portrayed with Densel Washington as Biko.
remembrance of song called BIKO by Peter Gabriel, sung during a concert in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1977 and South American Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Concert with Sting in 1986.
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In February, 1997 during the South African TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, five South African security policeman confessed to severely beating Stephen Biko, which caused his death due to a massive brain hemorrhage.
WHY the murder? To silence ...."Bantu Stephen Biko, that country's (South Africa) most important Black leader, stepped forward to testify on their behalf and thus broke the ban on his public speaking. In the late 1960s, Biko, founded the Black Consciousness movement which called for the psychological and cultural liberation of the Black mind as a precondition to political freedom....
'(Biko speaking on Black Consciousness as witness in court for some of his suppporters)....they would no longer use the term Non-White, nor allow it to be used as a description of them because they saw it as a negation of their being. They were being stated as 'non-something', which implied that the standard was something and they were not that particular standard. They felt that a positive view to life, which is commensurate with the build-up of one's dignity and confidence, should be contained in a description which you accept, and they sought to replace the term Non-White with the term Black...you tend to begin to feel that there is something imcomplete in your humanity, and that completeness goes with whiteness. This is caried through to adulthood when the Black man has got to live and work....I no more work in order to live, I live in order to work.'"
In the movie CRY FREEDOM, the dignity and efforts of this man, Biko, and his fellow countryman were impressively and sensitively portrayed. The end is tragic but the message conveyed is powerful and enlightening. Washington conveys this very effectively.
The song BIKO by Peter Gabriel moved an audience worldwide by the poignancy of Biko's life and message. I was moved as few things have ever moved me. You can hear the song if you go on internet and search for Peter Gabriel - Biko.
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