Stephen Bantu Biko :: essays research papers

Stephen Bantu Biko     Stephen Biko is known internationally as the founder of the SouthAfrican Students Organization (SASO), and a leading specialty in the South AfricaBlack Consciousness drive. He fought against the separation between blackand vacuouss, called apartheid (the Afrikaans term for separateness). Hischildhood experiences and character, lead him to became a powerful leader.Steve Biko was born(p) on December 18, 1946, in King Williams Town, SouthAfrica. He father was a clerk and his mother was a housemaid. Following theSharpeville massacre in 1960, Biko was salutary 17 years old when he became apolitical activist. He started to become active when he got expelled fromLovedale High School and his brother was arrested in a nationwide policecrackdown on political activists. He ended up graduating in 1966 at a boardingschool in Natal named St. Francis College.     By then, his mind and character were those of a leader. He had a qui ckbrain with huge mental force and ideas. He had the gift to cut through to the stub of a problem and find the best solution. "His mind was a tool to chiselout sense and truth and order" (Woods 78). Biko was thoughtful, sensitive andhad a skinny sense of humor. He was motivated by the search for good and truth.At the University of Natal Medicine in 1968, he became involved in themultiracial field Union of South African Students. He was known by peers andadults as a student leader This organization fought for black rights, except heclaimed that, "the white were doing all the talking and the blacks listening"(Biko 210). Biko wanted the blacks to have as much say and participation as thewhites, so in 1968 he became the co-founder and first chairman of he SouthAfrican Students Organization (SASO). This was an all-black organization,which aim was to raise self respect and reliance to all blacks. He said, "Blackliberation starts with psychological self reliance. Th is can only be initiatedin isolation from allies whose good intentions are an obstacle to such self-realization" (Woods 63). This organization helped the foundation of anothermovement and convention, known as the South African Students Movement, and theBlack Peoples Convention (BPC). This movement also became known as the BlackConsciousness Movement. The movements he founded were headed towards students,because they were the ones that might heighten their minds, unlike the olderpeople, who have already made up their minds. He published Black Review, whichwas a political journal for the black community. These movements andpublications raised so much controversy that the black man is as worthy as any