We are concerned with that curious bunch of nonconformists who explain their participation in negative terms: that bunch of do-gooders that goes under all sorts of names - liberals, leftists, etc. These are the people who argue that they are not responsible for white racism and the country's 'inhumanity to the black man.'
Interpretation
This quote critiques individuals who distance themselves from societal issues while labeling themselves as do-gooders.
In this quote, Steven Biko addresses a group of individuals who label themselves as do-gooders or liberals, suggesting that their inability to take responsibility for societal issues like racism reflects a deeper unwillingness to engage with real problems. Biko criticizes these nonconformists for their tendency to participate in social justice discussions without acknowledging their own roles in perpetuating systemic issues, instead framing themselves as detached observers of societal failings rather than active agents of change.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one might cite this quote to highlight the importance of active engagement in racial issues.
It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realise that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality. The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth.
We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our birth. These are concepts which the Black Consciousness approach wishes to eradicate from the black man's mind before our society is driven to chaos by irresponsible people from Coca-cola and hamburger cultural backgrounds.
When you say 'Black is beautiful' you are saying, 'Man you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being'.
I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be.
Black Consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time. Its essence is the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression - the blackness of their skin - and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude.
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
People who think about time travel stories sometimes think that going back in time would be fun because you would have all the information you needed to be much more astute than the people there, when the truth is of course you wouldn't.
In the world of the celebrity, the hierarchy of publicity has replaced the hierarchy of descent and even of great wealth.
As a species, we tend to live in environments where our own artifacts dominate. The way we shape our environment and are in turn shaped by it is a key theme in my fiction - indeed, it's a key part of a great deal of science fiction.
I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist. And my reality is that we live in a multifaceted, multicultural world. And maybe once we stop labeling ourselves, then maybe everyone else will.
When I die, I shall soar with angels, and when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine.
Race, what is that? Race is a competition, somebody winning and somebody losing. Blood doesn't run in races! Come on!
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