This commemorative month serves as a mirror of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it seems it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an celebration that began as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has adopted a commercial tone, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to speak with Caucasian groups about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The wave has crested, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what increasing understanding is for.
The History of Black History Celebration
Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with seven days of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month grew out of this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in October in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, Éire and the Holland.
The month has developed since those days, placing less emphasis on the accounts of transatlantic enslavement and struggles for equality, and more on notable African descendants in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the way the observance is celebrated is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a valuable example in how assimilation leads to dismantling: the transformation of Black History Month has hindered the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.
A Disconcerting Period
Little demonstrates how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the recent season we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the right-wing political group, is a staunch adversary of anti-racism activism, and we are in a place where a legislator feels empowered to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, far-right parties are growing in Europe as a complete entity.
In the America, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been carried, often successfully, to the highest courts of the country. A drive to erase Black history and legacy from the records is in progress. One of the political figure's first executive orders aimed at the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the observance symbolises how insufficiently it can be influential if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered celebrations of historical achievements, rather than addressing the realities of the contemporary world. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. A university professor, a educator at an educational institution, put it best when she raised concerns about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The issue with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Figuring out how to adjust, modify and expand actions for fair treatment and appreciation in such times of discouragement and concern is a challenging endeavor. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month completely, thinking they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an era that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an infrastructure that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? Firstly, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed through the year (as certain organizations are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in educational programs. It would also be a era that does not shy away from governmental matters, and leaves space for people, particularly youth, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the past when it fails to address the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Establishments who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of “microaggressions”, but challenged by the dangers that impact society if anti-racism is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, urgent, and adaptive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is in order – Black History is Now Month.
