Because Biko...

With all the attention focused on remembering the nightmare of 9/11 this week, I'm thankful that Jackson reminded me of another significant tragic anniversary which shares the same week and it shouldn't pass without our collective acknowledgment.

I too was exposed to Steven Biko's life and legacy through music. I hold a special place for those who give there life for just causes and there is no doubt that Steven's was that. I have to thank Peter Gabriel and Little Steven for helping bring the cause to American teenagers back in the eighties. I'd like to believe that keeping the ugly truth out in front for everyone to see helped push the issue over the right side of the tipping point. I remember as a kid first reading about South African apartheid, and saying "This can't be true. There's no way that this exists in the 20th century". It did, and it still does.

Everyday many women in the middle east wake up with the same hopelessness that black South Africans suffered under the strong arm of apartheid, their lives completely governed by Sharia Law. It will take someone like Steven Biko to expose the truth of their plight. I pray that one emerges soon...