Biko’s ideas a guiding light today

BLACK is beautiful. You are who you are, you are a human being. We learnt this from Steve Biko and were reminded of it as his death 39 years ago was commemorated this week.

A social media memorial service for Biko was followed by another – that for American rapper Tupac Shakur, who died 20 years ago on September 13.

You may be thinking the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement and a gangsta rapper do not belong on the same podium. You could be wrong. A revolution does not care how you marshal it, the aim is your impact.

Rhetoric, the ability to empower people with words, is an art. Biko and Shakur were artists. Who better to teach you that your mother is the centre of the universe than your brother? We have all learnt this from Shakur’s lyrics for Dear Mama.

For once memes on Facebook had no hint of parody. Status updates showed pictures of Biko or Shakur and selected quotes.

A united front emerged on the internet.

But as is social media’s wont, another united front developed when Tbo Touch, chief executive of TouchCent ral FM, launched the #DataMustFall campaign, giving mobile networks 30 days to change their mobile data prices.

An army of tweeps joined in, asking for more affordable mobile data.

Reports show there are an estimated 11 million active smartphones and an even greater number of Facebook accounts. More than 60 percent of South Africans use cellphones often to access the internet. How can Newstalk.com be wrong when it says data is a basic necessity like water and electricity? Internet access is becoming a musthave.

Not many people noticed the nerve of the Tshwane ANC Youth League when it accused mayor Solly Msimanga of political grandstanding about his cancelling of the city’s partnership with BMW to ensure officials drove cheaper cars.

Which part of “cheaper cars for councillors means more money to service the people” is hard to understand?

The league’s regional chairman, Lesego Makhubela, said the DA-led municipality was trying to reverse the gains the ANC had made in improving the lives of black children.

No! Black children’s lives will be better if their streets are lit at night, not when councillors drive through townships in luxury vehicles.

A black child’s life will be better if schools have quality teachers and extramural activities. We empower black people by giving their children books.

I don’t think Biko mobilised much of the urban black population with a view to leaders driving luxury cars while the people lived in shambles.

But Makhubela made a valid point when he said BMW in Rosslyn had invested in an early childhood development centre for township residents and a clinic.

Biko said: “It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.”

We pray the fallen visionaries will keep a space for us up there.

Until then, we strive to become the kind of black people who reward our children’s mischief with a book and an order that they read it.