“Not only have whites kicked the Black man, but they have also told him how to react to the kick.”
Steve Biko
Steve Biko’s writings and teachings on Black Consciousness and Culture are extremely powerful tools that will help liberate our minds. He taught us that “liberation is of paramount importance in the concept of Black consciousness and that we cannot be conscious of ourselves and yet remain in bondage.”
CULTURE
Biko reminded us that Africans could always comfortably stay with people of other cultures and be able to contribute to the joint cultures of the communities they had joined. Many African cultures have withstood the process of deliberate bastardization. Whenever foreign colonization sets in with its dominant culture, it devours the native culture and leaves behind a bastard culture.
Black culture is a way of defiance, self-assertion, group pride, and solidarity.
We were always close to nature. Nature enabled the emotional component in us to be much richer– in that it makes it possible for us, without any apparent difficulty, to feel for people and easily identify with them in any emotional situation arising from or out of suffering.
No one felt like an intruder in someone else’s business. The curiosity was welcome. It came out of the desire to share. This pattern was found in all age groups. No reason was needed as a basis for a visit. This way of life was part of our deep concern for each other.
Biko taught us that “in the West-a-visit is met with, what can I do for you? We are not a suspicious race-we believe in the inherent good of man and woman.
The easiness with which Africans communicate with each other, is not forced by authority but is inherent in our make-up. Whites can stay in an area without knowing their neighbor.
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