September 12, 1977: Anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko is arrested and beaten to death by policemen in Pretoria, South Africa.
Bantu Stephen Biko was born on December 18, 1946 in Tarkastad, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. He believed that well-intentioned white liberals failed to comprehend the black experience and often acted in a paternalistic manner. He developed the view that to avoid white domination, black people had to organize independently.
To this end, he became a leading figure in the creation of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) in 1968. Membership was open only to "blacks," a term that Biko used in reference not just to Bantu-speaking Africans, but also to "Coloureds" and Indians. He was careful to keep his movement independent of white liberals, but opposed anti-white hatred and had white friends. The white-minority National Party government were initially supportive, seeing SASO's creation as a victory for apartheid's ethos of racial separatism.
Influenced by America's Black Power movement, Biko and his compatriots developed Black Consciousness as SASO's official ideology. The movement campaigned for an end to apartheid and the transition of South Africa toward universal suffrage and a Socialist economy. It organized Black Community Programmes (BCPs), and focused on the psychological empowerment of black people. Biko believed that black people needed to rid themselves of any sense of racial inferiority, an idea he expressed by popularizing the slogan "Black is beautiful."
In 1972, he was involved in founding the Black People's Convention (BPC) to promote Black Consciousness ideas among the wider population. The government came to see Biko as a subversive threat and placed him under a banning order in 1973, severely restricting his activities. He remained politically active, and was detained by state security services on several occasions. Following his arrest on August 18, 1977, Biko was beaten to death by state security officers. Over 20,000 people attended his funeral.
Biko's fame spread posthumously. He became the subject of numerous songs and works of art, while a 1978 biography by his friend Donald Woods formed the basis for the 1987 film Cry Freedom, starring Denzel Washington. Biko became one of the earliest icons of the movement against apartheid, and is regarded as a political martyr and the "Father of Black Consciousness."
It would take another 16 years before the national government to admit that it had to end apartheid.
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September 12, 1977 was a Monday. Tauheed K. Epps, the rapper known as 2 Chainz, was born. And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4. Willie Stargell did not play.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-3 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Eddie Murray, soon to be named American League Rookie of the Year, went 1-for-4.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. J.R. Richard outpitched Mario Soto. José Cruz and César Cedeño each hit 2 home runs, and Bob Watson hit 1. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench did not play.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rod Carew went 2-for-5 with an RBI, raising his batting average to .376. He would finish at .388.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 11-9 at Busch Memorial Stadium.
* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Dock Ellis outpitched Nolan Ryan.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 7-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Padres trailed 5-2 after 7 innings, but scored 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th. But Ron Cey hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 10th to win it.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The Kansas City Royals and the former Kansas City team, the Oakland Athletics, were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Seattle. They were rained out the next day, too, so they had to play twi-night doubleheaders on Wednesday (including a makeup of this game) and Thursday. The Royals, on their way to the 2nd of 3 straight AL West titles, and 6 in a span of 10 seasons, swept all 4 games from the A's, who had won 5 straight Division titles from 1971 to 1975, but were now hopeless.
In particular, the Royals won the makeup game, 5-2. Al Cowens hit a home run, and George Brett went 2-for-4.
* And the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Seattle Mariners were not scheduled.
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