A Book That Influenced Millions of People

About the book

The book was published in 2008 among Oxford University Press collection by the author Rowena Akinyemi. It is a simplified version of the original story written by Donald Woods. The book is based on a true story and there is also a movie based on the book.

Summary of the story

The story started in South Africa. There was a Journalist whose name is Donald Woods and he got trained to be a lawyer. One day the police raided the Black township Crossroads that is in Cape Town. Woods is a white guy who believes that black and white people should work together to build their country. He always wished that black people should be treated like the white people. Woods met a friend in a church that also had intelligent ideas that might influence the community in Cape Town, his name was Steven Biko and they had a conversation about how system was unfair towards black people.

Biko and Woods went for a dinner at night and it was the first time for Wood to eat with a black family. They all have been discussing about the system and the history of the country. In addition, they talked about how white people entered South Africa. Woods thoughts changed after that dinner, because he saw things for the first time like how black people fight together for their goals despite being in horrible life. After that night, Woods and Biko became friends and they went for a soccer match, there Woods gave a speech to all the black people about the future they want to reach. It was very convincing and powerful.

One day Biko got hit so badly from the police and he was defending himself. He had an organization with a large group that were in support of the new government in Mozambique. Woods wanted to make a print in the court, but he was afraid for losing a guy's life named Dilima. The last thing that happened was that Woods decided to talk to the Minister of the police about the whole incident. The Minister accepted to help and was a good collaborator.

A picture exerted from the book (when Biko was hit by the police)

The judges closed the case despite Woods persistence. And after a while They took everything from him and they even killed two of the black family that Woods went to have a dinner with. Days passed by, Biko went to the Cape town. While driving his car in the road he saw lots of cops on his way, they asked him for papers, but when they realized that it was Biko, they arrest him, tortured and beaten him so hard, which led to some serious injuries. He stayed at the police hospital but at the end he died with unknown manner. Woods got sad and he decided to save his cause by writing about "Biko's Death in custody". Woods wanted to see his body before burying him and it was extremely painful and shocking. After that when all the black people heard his story they came to his funeral and Biko died as a hero.

A picture exerted from the book (Biko's funeral)

Moral of the story

Racism in all its types is a trouble that we need to solve in this whole world. Biko has died due to injustice, but he died for a reason, and that reason is an honor by itself. The humanity is still until now suffering from racism, so we need to stop it!