This movement was embodied in Biko’s Black Consciousness philosophy where balck people “rediscovered their soul”. We then had young black who began to recognise this malaise and began to develop a renewed sense of self in their balckness. As the years went on, we had a new generation (Boomers) who were born into the system, who in a manner similar to my growing up in a new dispensation, never knew of the relative freedom enjoyed by the parents before 1948. As the National Party came to power in 1948 apartheid gained momentum with the 1st generation of blacks experiencing the effects of the inferiority complex manifested by the system. segregation resulted in significant emotional and psychological results that were the real intentions behind the regime. Biko, under his pseudonym Frank Talk and through transcripts of his trial in 1975, speaks of how the physical manifestations of apartheid i.e. In wanting to get in touch with significant characters of the past few decades, I’d heard a little about Biko and thought this book would be a nice starting point to learn about the man who headed up the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa. The Memorial requires a post of its own, but on the day I picked up a book called I write what I like by Steve Biko. I decided then to visit the Memorial before the 16th. Feeling surprisingly safe, I drove past a sign that pointed to the Hector Pieterson Memorial. I visited Soweto for the first time on June 10th this year. I grew up, and began my conscious awakening amidst the changes in South Africa, not really knowing where we had come from in terms of institutionalised apartheid.Īnd so, in recent years I have begun to explore my history as a South African … the history not taught to me when I was in school.

And then, as Barrie would say, a fish does not know it is wet as it has no benchmark of dryness to measure against. In part, I was sheltered from the news and experience of emergency state-like events of the 1980s because of propogandised media and the comfort of white suburbia.

Being a white 26 year old South African I have found the last decade and a half of transformation quite bland. Graeme posted earlier about the Youth Day public holiday on 16th June here in South African that commemorates the youth riots of 16th June 1976. In our Mind the Gap framework we speak of how Xers cannot remember insitutionalised apartheid.

I write what i like by steve biko