Biko Quotes

“The obscene laws that constitute apartheid are not crazed edicts issued by a dictator, nor the whims of a megalomanic monster, nor the one-man decisions of a fanatical ideologue. They are the result of polite caucus discussions by hundreds of delegates in sober suits, after full debate in party congresses. They are passed after three solemn readings in a parliament that opens every day’s proceedings with a prayer to Jesus Christ. There is a special horror in that fact.”
― Donald Woods, Biko: The powerful biography of Steve Biko and the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement

“This was but the first of a number of lies Kruger would tell about the death of Steve Biko. The Afrikaans expression ‘Dit laat my koud’ means literally: ‘It leaves me cold.’ More colloquially: ‘I don’t care’ or ‘I don’t feel a thing.’ In fact, Mr. Kruger had gone further. He had extended the bounds of his jocularity at the time. ‘One feels sorry about any death. I suppose I would feel sorry about my own death,’ he said. Typically, in seeking to repair the damage of his first statement, he made the damage worse.”
― Donald Woods, Biko: The powerful biography of Steve Biko and the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement

“Unfortunately, it would seem that economic power, despite temporary hardships, is the only responsible course open to the free world.”
― Donald Woods, Biko: The powerful biography of Steve Biko and the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement

“As a Restricted Person under South Africa’s banning decree I was forbidden by the government to write anything — even a diary or postcard — and the Security Police in charge of my surveillance had threatened to raid my house at any time of day or night to ensure that I wasn’t breaking the ban. My home was under constant observation from the sidewalk and from the Security Police cars that cruised close by, and there were clear indications that apart from monitoring all telephone calls and intercepting all mail, they had planted listening devices inside the house. For these reasons I wrote most of this book in long-hand, only twice using a typewriter while playing a phonograph record to mask the sounds of the keys. I wrote at a table by an upstairs window from which I could watch the rather predictable routine of my watchers, prepared should they approach the house.”
― Donald Woods, Biko: The powerful biography of Steve Biko and the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement

“You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway.”
― Donald Woods, Biko: The powerful biography of Steve Biko and the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement