I Write What I Like

Chapter 4 consists of observations Biko made during his tour of Black South African campuses. Based on discussions at student body and SRC meetings, as well as conversations with groups outside leadership circles, it describes shifting attitudes toward social change at Black universities. Biko learned that Black students had grown skeptical of old approaches to their problems, which relied on white people to engender change. He also learned that Black students embraced independence and an awareness that Black people as a group could wield power. Black students were rejecting the notion that Black and white people could be equal partners, instead favoring segregation in their organizations. Black students also wanted to emancipate Black people in the broader community. According to Biko, Black students had good intentions, but lacked skills to create change. Additionally, they were too quick to accept direction from white people.

Chapter 5 is an article titled “I Write What I Like,” which Biko published under the pseudonym Frank Talk in SASO’s August 1970 newsletter. The article, the first of several of that title, is a critique of white liberalism. Biko describes liberals as “Black souls in White skins” (20) because they