This commemorative month is a reflection of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a reassessment. Over the years, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has developed a commercial tone, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to speak with predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the enterprise of showcasing anti-racist commitment. But even that moment has passed. The surge has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The Background of Black History Month
First commemorated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with seven days of commemoration and observance in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in October in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.
The period has developed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the narratives of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and more on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and widely honoring the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the way the celebration is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it progresses is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month more than the current time in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the form of the Reform political group is leading the polls. In the recent season we saw the largest far-right rally in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the right-wing political group, is a firm opponent of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament gains confidence to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the US, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the nation. A drive to erase the history of people of color and legacy from the historical documents is ongoing. One of the former president's early administrative commands focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as inherently racist”.
Given these circumstances, the celebration illustrates how minimally it can be effective if it is limited to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content festivities of historical achievements, rather than confronting the realities of the present. It also demonstrates how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. An academic expert, a professor at a learning establishment, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a urge to just discontinue events including Black History Month altogether, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an period that has failed to deliver.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an framework that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is spread out across all seasons (as various establishments are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) included in educational programs. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and provides room for individuals, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What value has basic knowledge of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Institutions who mark it should not be comforted with the passive language of implicit prejudice and awareness of minor insults, but confronted with the dangers that impact society if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, urgent, and adaptive. Perhaps an total re-identification is necessary – Black History is Now Month.
