Quote by Steve Biko: “We are oppressed because we are black.”

Biko's stark statement identifies the direct cause of oppression in apartheid South Africa: race. It emphasizes that Black people were not oppressed for their actions, but for their identity, highlighting the systemic and racialized nature of injustice.

This fundamental premise of Black Consciousness cut through liberal arguments that sought to attribute oppression to class or other factors, asserting race as the primary determinant.

South African anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, which argued that psychological liberation was as important as political freedom. He was killed by South African security police in 1977 while in custody, and his writings were published posthumously as I Write What I Like.