This commemorative month is a reflection of the current political climate, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the Britain, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a commercial tone, growing to encompass events where Black people are paid to address predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the enterprise of showcasing anti-racist commitment. But even that moment has passed. The wave has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Origins of Black History Observance
Originally observed in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month grew out of this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.
The period has developed since that time, focusing less on the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the way the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the political moment. How it progresses is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how critical it is to rethink Black History Month better than the specific period in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a revitalized conservative movement in the shape of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we observed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a member of parliament feels emboldened to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a source of worry. Meanwhile, extreme conservative groups are surging in the EU as a entirety.
In the America, a massive attack against DEI and affirmative action has been carried, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A campaign to remove Black history and legacy from the records is ongoing. One of the former president's initial presidential directives focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the observance symbolises how minimally it can be influential if it is restricted to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content commemorations of historical achievements, rather than confronting the conditions of the current era. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. A university professor, a prof at a learning establishment, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Determining how to adjust, modify and expand actions for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just discontinue events including Black History Month entirely, thinking they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants of an time that has not worked.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form an foundation that a lot of work has been invested in. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month appear as? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already starting to implement), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a era that does not avoid political issues, and allows opportunity for people, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the past when it fails to address the contemporary truth of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Organizations who mark it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and awareness of minor insults, but confronted with the risks that impact society if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and adaptive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is in order – Black History is Now Month.
