Youth
P BPC SASO 5

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"Who
Is Black?" Editorial by Steve Biko, SASO Newsletter, September
1970
There is something to be said about the question "who is black?"
In his talk at the SASO Symposium on "Black is beautiful" Mr
Mphahlele warned that people should resist the temptation of being preoccupied
with defining "how black is black." To me it would seem that
this is just what people are doing--not necessarily at student level,
although to some extent this is true of students too, but more so with
the public at large.

Some Coloured and
Indian people are refusing to identify with African people in calling
themselves
black. They see this as a disadvantageous
categorisation that will limit chances of assimilation into the more
affluent group--the white world. Others do so because of a fear
for the unknown-- the rise of African nationalism and its possible
effects. They point to what is happening to the North of us as the example
of what lies in store for Indian people in this country. Needless to
say, their source of information is ill-informed and deliberately distorted
accounts of events there as reported in South African newspapers and
other agencies of government propaganda.

On the other hand,
the African community too--being at the bottom
rung of the ladder--has become over-sensitive to anybody who has
a slight advantage over them. They point at the large and "highly
successful" Indian middle class as a strong obstacle in the way
towards full emancipation of black people. Because of this, they tend
to bundle together all those not like them by way of privilege.

In the midst of all
this confusion, certain people are talking about "black

Source
Karis, T.G & Gerhart, G. M (eds)(1997). From Protest to Challenge:
A Documentary history of African politics in South Africa, 1882-1990,
Volume 5: Nadir and Resurgence,1964-1979, Pretoria: Unisa.