The BCM 's policy of perpetually challenging the dialectic of Apartheid South Africa as a means of transforming Black thought into rejecting prevailing opinion or mythology to attain a larger comprehension brought it into direct conflict with the full force of the security apparatus of the Apartheid regime . " Black man , you are on your own " became the rallying cry as mushrooming activity committees implemented what was to become a relentless campaign of challenge to what was then referred to by the BCM as " the System " . It eventually sparked a confrontation on 16 June 1976 in the Soweto uprising , when 176 people were killed mainly by the South African Security Forces , as students marched to protest the use of the Afrikaans language in African schools . Unrest spread like wildfire throughout the country
Soweto uprising
Soweto uprising
Black Consciousness Movement