This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it feels like it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an event that was initiated as a commemorative event of history, culture and the connections between global Black communities, has developed a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate gatherings where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to speak with Caucasian groups about hidden biases and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The wave has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what raising awareness 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 historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in October in the Britain, Deutschland, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The period has evolved since those days, placing less emphasis on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and greater focus on notable African descendants in government, the arts, and social movements, and widely honoring the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the manner the observance is observed is a reflection 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 purpose of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.
A Jarring Moment
Little demonstrates how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it falls this year. In the Britain, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels emboldened to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are surging in Europe as a entirety.
In the United States, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A effort to erase Black history and narrative from the records is ongoing. One of the political figure's early administrative commands focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by depicting the United States “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the celebration symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the situation of the present. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she stated, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a catalyst for change.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden efforts for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just discontinue things like Black History Month completely, thinking they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants of an time that has failed to deliver.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of campaigns for equality – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an foundation that a significant effort has been invested in. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month seem? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) included in school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not evade politics, and leaves space for citizens, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What use is mere awareness of the past when it fails to address the present reality of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Institutions who observe it should not be reassured with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of minor insults, but confronted with the risks that affect everyone if anti-racism is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
