Overall, this was a really thought-provoking collection of writings and thoughts from South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who I didn’t know anything about until I was recommended to check this book out by a friend. Biko’s thoughts on racism and colonization are specifically within the context of South Africa, and I found them not only informative but also saw resonances of what he was discussing in US history and politics. What I found really eye-opening and relevant to this day was his discussion on white liberals, particularly their vision of a “non-racial” society being deeply flawed and problematic. This collection also provides insight into Biko’s philosophy about Black Consciousness (the term stemming from Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness), which was deeply informed by postcolonial thinkers such as Fanon and Césaire. The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), founded by Biko, pushed for Black liberation, which he saw not only as a fight for systemic change but also a psychological change within Black people themselves (which, in essence, read to me as decolonizing one’s mind). I think Biko’s charisma really came through in the transcripts of Biko’s responses to the judge and the defense attorney while on trial; it was kind of awe-inspiring to see “in action” how eloquent and articulate he was, on top of the fact that he was only in his twenties. I will say one critique I do have (and this was noted in the foreword) is the noticeable absence of feminism in Biko’s ideology. It would have been interesting to have gotten some insight as to why he didn’t find it important enough to include in BCM.

This collection does get a little repetitive, though I imagine this was not meant to be read from front to back in a matter of days. In the edition I read, there was also a memoir at the end by Father Aelred Stubbs, though I’ll fully admit that I skimmed through it, since I was more interested in Biko’s writings. This was a really informative read, though, and it has inspired me to look for more works by African activists and thinkers such as Biko.