This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the prevailing political atmosphere, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an observance that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a commercial tone, expanding to include functions where Black people are paid to talk to Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the North America in February, but also in October in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The observance has evolved since those days, focusing less on the narratives of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and increasingly on notable African descendants in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the impact Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the observance is celebrated is a indication of the political moment. How it develops is a instructive case in how co-option leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to tackle structural and organizational discrimination.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we saw the largest far-right rally in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a firm opponent of anti-racism activism, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament gains confidence to declare that a lack of white people in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. At the same time, extreme conservative groups are expanding in the European continent as a whole.
In the United States, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been carried, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the country. A effort to scrub the history of people of color and narrative from the records is under way. One of the former president's first executive orders focused on the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to change the national past” by depicting the United States “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the celebration symbolises how minimally it can be effective if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content celebrations of historical achievements, rather than confronting the conditions of the present. It also demonstrates how its short period means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. A university professor, a educator at a learning establishment, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a catalyst for change.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Establishing how to adapt, revise and extend initiatives for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a urge to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month altogether, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an era that has failed to deliver.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and legacy of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an infrastructure that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not merely to decline as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not shy away from governmental matters, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What value has mere awareness of the past when it ignores the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the street? Organizations who observe it should not be reassured with the passive language of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to minor insults, but challenged by the dangers that face all if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is necessary – Black History is Now Month.
