Remembering our brother, Stephen (AKA Frank Talk)

On August 18, 1977 – Stephen Biko, one of the most influential South African student leaders in South Africa’s fight against Apartheid, is arrested in Port Elizabeth on charges of inciting violence among blacks in the city through his writings. Stephen Biko would die one month later in police custody from torture and beatings. Today, he is still considered one of the most revered figures in South Africa’s fight for freedom.

Artistic Confetti: Biko 78

oil and paper on board 4x6

By: Stephen Bess

I did this piece in 2005 in honor of Stephen Biko. Peace~

Steve Biko

Happy birthday to Steve Biko. Please check out my post from November 2005 . I did a week of Biko. Also, Rethabile posted a great tribute to Biko today on his site, Sotho . Peace to ntate, Biko. Peace~

In Memory of Ntate Stephen Biko

Stephen Biko managed to accomplish a great deal while operating as president of South African Students Organization (SASO) since 1968. Biko, operating under the pseudonym of "Frank Talk" spoke of the injustices of the White minority and importance of Black solidarity. Biko felt that solidarity among Black South Africans would instill pride and revive the cultural vitality that Apartheid and racism had almost completely diminished. The South African government soon detected the effectiveness of Biko's political activities and banned Stephen Biko from publishing or speaking publicly. Biko soon took his message underground and continued his campaign against the racist Apartheid system. He preached that Black South Africans needed to come together to "break the chains of oppression." Biko was often arrested and harassed by South African Police who were monitoring his activities.
Stephen Biko was seized and detained under the Terrorism Act on August 18, 1977. The Terrorism Act was implemented in 1967. This Act "allowed for indefinite detention without trial and established Bureau of State Security (BOSS), which was responsible for the internal security of South Africa." This act and various other laws managed to silence and incarcerate over 40,000 Blacks in South Africa since 1950. Biko was held in prison for twenty four days where he was interrogated, beaten, and starved. He was literally tortured to death. Prison doctors finally allowed him be transported to a hospital in Pretoria for medical treatment after he was found unconscious, bound and naked. Stephen Biko died on the way to hospital in Pretoria that was some 740 miles away. The official cause of death was due to a brain lesion caused by blunt force trauma to the head. The officers at the prison were never punished for this crime.

Biko's Influence On Hip Hop

Stephen Biko was and still is an inspiration to South Africans of all ages. The power of his words and actions reached all over the world and the Black diaspora. Biko's message also reached our shores here in America and it landed some where in Brooklyn. I really love this shout that the Tribe gives to Biko. Here are most of the lyrics.

Please review previous post for more information on Bantu Stephen Biko

A Tribe Called Quest

Steve Biko (Stir It Up)
Taken from: 1993 album Midnight Marauders


[Phife]
Linden Boulevard represent, represent
Tribe Called Quest represent, represent
When the mic is in my hand, I'm never hesitant
My favorite jam back in the day was Eric B. for President
Rude boy composer
Step to me you're over
Brothers wanna flex
Youre not Mad Cobra
MC short and black
There ain't no other
Trini-born black like Mia Longs grandmother
Tip and Sha they all that, Phife-Dawg ditto
Honey tell your man to chill, or else you'll be a widow
Did not you know that my styles are top-dollar?
The Five-Foot Assassin knockin fleas off his collar
Hip-hop scholar since bein knee-high to a duck
The height of Mugsy Bogues, complexion of a hockey puck
You better ask somebody on how we flip the script
Come to a Tribe show and watch the three kids rip
[Q-Tip]
Queens is in the house represent, represent
A Tribe Called Quest represent, represent
No tamin of the style cuz it gets irreverent
A Tribe Called Quest represent, represent
Huh-huh, here we go
You know that I'm the rebel
Throwin out the wicked like God did the Devil
Funky like your grandpas drawers, dont test me
We in like that, youre dead like Presley
When we comin through get tickets to see me
We work for the paper so there will never be a preemie
Lyrics are abundant cuz we got it by the mass
Egos are all idle cuz the music is the task
Valenzuela on the pitch, curveball, catch it
I think I got it locked, just smooth while I latch it
Right Now I must move with the quickness
Here comes Shaheed so we must bear the witness
Chorus
Stir It Up x3
Steve Biko
Stir It Up x3
Steve Biko

Verse 2

[Phife]
New York City represent, represent
A Tribe Called Quest represent, represent
The Dawg is scientific with the styles
I invent A Tribe Called Quest represent, represent
MCs like to meddle, but heres my proposition
I let my lyrics flow, and jumped your whole position
I'm radical with this like the man this song is after
Yo Tip settle down, whats the reason for the laughter?
[Q-Tip]
I really cant say, I guess I laugh to keep from cryin
So much goin on, people killin, people dyin B
ut I wont dwell on that, I think I'll elevate my mental
Thanks for these bars on the Biko instrumental.....

SASO and The Black Consciousness Movement

1968 marked the year that Stephen Biko would break off from the NUSAS (National Union of South African Students) to form SASO (South African Students’ Organization). At the age of 22 Stephen Biko seemed to be ordained by God to undertake the task of liberation for South Africa against Apartheid. Perhaps his inspiration and drive came from the likes of Nelson Mandela or Robert Sobukwe who were both already jailed for their participation in the fight for Freedom. Nevertheless, Steve Biko, the President of SASO, launched a polemical campaign to expose the injustices against Blacks in South Africa. He started a monthly newsletter with the organization and wrote a column titled, I Write What I Like. He operated under the nom de guerre, “Frank Talk.”
The writings of Frank Talk were published in the SASO newsletter between 1969-1972. This would ignite the beginning of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa. Stephen was later silenced in 1973 and forbidden to write or speak in an opened forum. However, the movement had already gained momentum among the people in the townships and squatter camps (especially the students). The Black Conscious movement was not only designed to expose the injustices of Apartheid, but to also kindle and make conscious a beaten and troubled people under an evil and oppressive regime. Stephen Biko would become its most electrifying and devoted soldier.

"The philosophy of Black Consciousness therefore expresses group pride and the determination of the black to rise and attain the envisaged self. Freedom is the abliltiy to define oneself with one's possibilities held back not by the powre of other people over one but only by one's relationship to God and to natural surroundings." (Stephen Biko, I Write What I Like)

Young Steve Biko

Stephen Bantu Biko was born on December 18, 1946 in the Kingwilliamstown, Cape Province of South Africa. He was born the third child and second son of Mr. and Mrs. Mzimgayi Biko. Unfortunately, Stephen would never come to know his father who died when Stephen was only 4 years old. Stephen’s mother was a maid, but she made certain that the young Stephen would receive an education. Education was not free at that time for Black children. Parents had to pay monthly fees to send their children to school. This was often a difficult task for the overwhelmingly poor conditions that existed among many native South Africans. Families often resorted to selling chickens and other livestock just to ensure an education for their children. Stephen received his primary and secondary education in the Kingwilliamstown region before moving on to the Lovedale Institution in Alice. It was at Lovedale that Stephen received a “Bantu” Education. Essentially, a Bantu Education teaches the native how to serve the ruling minority. It was not designed to prepare students for higher education, but to keep them in their place. His formative education was received at the Roman Catholic Mariannhill, in Natal.

Stephen Bantu Biko (1946-1977)

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

Speech in Cape Town, 1971

I first attempted to read the work of Stephen Biko, Founder and martyr of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa, when I was in college in 1991. This is when I picked up his book, I Write What I Like. It was a very difficult read for me because my vocabulary and comprehension talents were not fully developed at that point. I struggled a great deal. I put the book back on my father’s bookshelf and picked up the movie, Cry Freedom starring Denzel Washington (In retrospect, this movie didn’t even come close to representing Biko’s ideologies and philosophies on Black Consciousness…although Denzel did an excellent job acting). I revisited the same work in 1995 and I found out that I actually learned something in college. As a matter of fact, I thought that it was a different book because I was able to grasp the language and meaning of what he said so well. This made me very happy.
I will be looking at the Stephen Biko this week and commenting on his philosophy and how it applies to our lives in 2005-2006. Are Black people in this country or the diaspora still living in an oppressed state? These are very heavy questions and I will be attempting to work through them the best that I can. Perhaps you can help me.