Stephen Biko

The Apartheid is defined as a system of racial segregation. This system started at roughly 1948 with the election of one man Daniel F Malan. He had brought his party to power and they had started the events that started the apartheid. The apartheid in Afrikaner is the word for apartness, but the apartheid was developed to separate each ethnic race from each other. It separated whites and non whites, then non whites from each other. It was developed so that there couldn’t be any banding together of different races. But the reason the apartheid was able to continue for much longer than it should have politically is because the Afrikaners wouldn’t let other races have proper schooling, told them they were inferior, imprisoned then killed those who led the resistance, pitted the people against each other, and never let the other races decide the fate of their country despite being the ones that do all the work. But even then small groups of the other races were able to get educated through the harsh educational facilities and were able to lead their people against the rules of the apartheid. Due to these leaders that stepped up the apartheid was finally able to start to end at 1990 with the permanent destruction of the apartheid system at 1994 when the first all nation democratic vote for the new leader of South Africa to be chosen. This is what my hero had to fight against to obtain the thing we should all have. This is the story of my hero.

My hero is Stephen Biko. He was a great man born in Tylden and he proved this when he first started schooling. He stood up against oppression to the point of expulsion and he was moved to the Roman Catholic boarding school in Natal. But even with expulsion he took his learning seriously by absorbing all the information he could get his hands on. This allowed him to go to the University Of Natal Medical School in the black section. When there, Stephen decided to try out the National Union Of South African Students (UOSAS), but it seemed to be led mostly by White liberals. This caused Stephen to resign from this organization in 1969. His resignation in 1969 resulted in Stephen deciding that he should create the South African Student Organization (SASO). This organization was made to spread the truth of injustice to all students from other schools in which they were happening, provide medical support to those clinics, and develop business for poor black South African communities. Due to how easy it was for black students to relate to the ideals of this group the SASO quickly gained support becoming wildly successful. Because of the success of the SASO in 1972 Biko went on to help create the BPC (Black Peoples Convention). The Black Peoples Convention went on to help social projects in Durban. Because of this the Black Peoples Organization brought 70 black organizations together. One of these groups was SASM or South African Student Movement (SASM helped significantly in the 1976 Soweto Uprising). Other organizations that the BPC brought together were the Association of Youth Organizations (AOYO) and the Black Workers Project (BWP). Once he brought all these organizations together he was elected to BCP or the Black Community Program which he also helped found in Durban. Due to his new office he was expelled from his medical school, which allowed him to work full time at the BCP.

Because of his new found freedom the Afrikaner government found him as a threat to their way of life, so in 1973 he was banned by the Apartheid Government. His being banned made it so he could only be in King Williams’s town which resided in the East Cape. But even being separated from Durban and the BCP didn’t stop him from helping the BCP by starting the Zimele Trust fund. This trust fund helped those that were the family of political prisoners. Sadly between 1975 and 1977 Biko had been detained four times. These detentions were made by the anti Terrorism Legislation. He was detained in August 1977. This was the last of the four times he was detained. He was held in Port Elizabeth. There he was taken for interrogation. Then during the interrogation he sustained a blow to the head which reportedly caused him to start acting strange and uncooperative. It was later discovered that he had taken a Neurological injury. Around September 11th he had started to act in a semi unconscious state. Even though they eventually transferred him to a hospital by the 12th he had died of brain damage and had become a martyr. This is the story of Stephen Biko.

Foundation, Stephen Biko. "About Bantu Stephen Biko." Home | Steve Biko Foundation. 11th Floor Braamfontein Centre 23 Jorissen Street, Braamfontein Johannesburg, South Africa. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. http://www.sbf.org.za/about_steve_bantu_biko.asp.

Boddy-Evans, Alistair. "Short Biography: Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko." African History -- Explore the History of Africa. New York Times. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://africanhistory.about.com/od/stevebiko/a/bio-Biko.htm

About.com. "Apartheid FAQ -- Common Questions About South Africa's Apartheid Era." African History -- Explore the History of Africa. New York Times. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blSAApartheidFAQ.htm.

Steve Biko. Wotd press.com. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://topicmaps.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/i-write-what-i-like/.

Crowds. Stanford, palo Alto, California. http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html.