This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the prevailing political atmosphere, so in what ways can we modernize it?
This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a reassessment. Over the years, an event that started out as a celebration and reminder of history, culture and the connections between global Black communities, has adopted a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate events where individuals of African heritage are compensated to speak with Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s generated a rise in the business of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The wave has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of commemoration and observance in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this movement and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The month has evolved since those days, focusing less on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and civil rights battles, and increasingly on notable African descendants in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to mold society. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the manner the celebration is celebrated is a manifestation of the political moment. How it progresses is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the current time in which it occurs this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform party is top in opinion ratings. In the summer we saw the largest far-right rally in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a position where a legislator feels emboldened to say that the absence of Caucasian individuals in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, far-right parties are surging in the EU as a complete entity.
In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, often successfully, to the highest courts of the country. A campaign to remove Black history and experience from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives focused on the museum of African American legacy, and the prestigious establishment, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
Against this backdrop, the observance symbolises how minimally it can be effective if it is restricted to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than addressing the conditions of the contemporary world. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a professor at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the celebration. “The issue with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Determining how to adjust, modify and expand initiatives for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a challenging endeavor. There is a temptation to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month entirely, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an period that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and tradition of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an infrastructure that a considerable labor has been invested in. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is spread out across all seasons (as some institutions are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around prominent figures of color) integrated into school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not shy away from politics, and leaves space for people, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the bygone era when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of far-right rallies in the urban areas? Organizations who mark it should not be pacified with the passive language of hidden discrimination and alertness to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the threats that affect everyone if anti-racism is not treated with importance. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and reactive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
