"Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being"
- Steven Biko
About this Quote
In this quote, Steven Biko is stressing the power and significance of self-identification. By simply acknowledging and accepting one's blackness, Biko believes that an individual has actually taken the initial step towards freedom and liberty. He argues that society typically utilizes race as a means of oppression and control, and by accepting and owning one's blackness, a person is actively withstanding these oppressive forces. Biko advises people to combat versus any attempts to use their race as a way of subjugation, and rather, use it as a source of strength and empowerment. This quote highlights the significance of self-awareness and self-determination in the fight against bigotry and discrimination.
"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"
"Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements"
"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself"