"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"

The quote by Steven Biko speaks to the core of the Black Consciousness Movement, which is the concept that black individuals must decline any value system that looks for to make them seem like outsiders in their own country and to reject them their fundamental human dignity. This motion was born out of the struggle against the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa, which looked for to strip black people of their rights and flexibilities. The Black Consciousness Movement was a method for black people to recover their identity and to fight for their rights. It was a method for them to stand up and state that they were not going to accept the status quo which they were going to defend their rights and self-respect. The fundamental tenet of black awareness is that black individuals must not accept any worth system that seeks to deny them their standard human rights and self-respect. It is a call to action for black individuals to stand up and defend their rights and to recover their identity.