ABSTRACT
The appalling levels of Black-on-Black violence which have come to be the order of the day in present-day South Africa make one wonder whether such violence is not a manifestation of the self-hate and self-negation which are embedded in an inferiority complex, as was argued by Biko more than four decades ago. Stephen Bantu Biko, one of the political martyrs of apartheid South Africa, was convinced that the main challenge which faced Black people then, dare we say even today, was a “bewitched mind.” According to Arnold, “In assessing the situation it was clear to Biko that the entire issue of Black suppression, and in turn the future of Black survival, hinged on the psychological battle for the minds of Black people” (1977: xvii). Such a bewitched mentality, seems to be prevalent among South African Blacks even today. Biko reasoned that the white South African minority had not only succeeded in instilling fear into the hearts of the black majority, but, more importantly, they managed to influence their way of thinking negatively. Consequently, Black minds became enslaved. Against such a background, and motivated by his philosophy of Black Consciousness, Biko encouraged black folks to affirm their full humanity in the slogan, “Black is beautiful.” In his meditation on the works of God’s creation in Psalm 8, the psalmist also sheds light on what and who a human being is (Ps 8:4). If the psalmist’s notion of humanity as it is revealed in Psalm 8 is brought into conversation with Steve Biko’s notion of Black beauty, which insights might emerge from such a reading? What kind of impact may such a hermeneutic have, if at all, on the discourse regarding race and religion, particularly in post-apartheid South Africa? The preceding questions, among others, will be dealt with in the present essay.
