“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” The third person of our Black History Month series is Bantu Stephen Biko. He spearheaded the Black Consciousness Movement and started the South African Students’ Organization (centered on resisting apartheid) before being tragically killed by police officers in 1977. He died in Cell Block No. 26. 

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He paid the ultimate sacrifice to end apartheid. It’s extremely difficult to acknowledge Steve Biko without remembering ancestor Sandra Bland and others who lost their lives within jails and prisons.

“The fact that apartheid has been tied up with white supremacy, capitalist exploitation, and deliberate oppression makes the problem much more complex. Material want is bad enough, but coupled with spiritual poverty, it kills.”For his sacrifice, we salute the late-great-Bantu Stephen Biko!