REFLECTIONS ON OCTOBER 19, 1977
On Thursday, October 19, 1977, directly following the murder of Bantu Stephen Biko on September 12, 1977, 19 Black Consciousness organisations were banned, and three publications were prohibited from being published again.
The political organisations constituted most of those to have been banned during the apartheid era. Yet, this fateful day was dubbed Black Wednesday, a narrative that has continued unabated, generally perpetuated by the media, the academic and public intellectuals.
Many white journalists were implacably opposed to, and their reporting was
