Black History Month is a reflection of the political moment, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
It's Black History Month in the Britain, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an observance that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a commercial tone, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to address Caucasian groups about hidden biases and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The surge has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with seven days of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this movement and was officially launched in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in October in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Holland.
The period has evolved since those days, placing less emphasis on the accounts of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the manner the observance is observed is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to dismantling: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.
A Troubling Time
Little demonstrates how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the current time in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the summer we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. a prominent political figure, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels empowered to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a reason for concern. Simultaneously, extreme conservative groups are expanding in the EU as a whole.
In the US, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A drive to erase Black history and experience from the archives is in progress. One of the former president's early administrative commands targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as inherently racist”.
Given these circumstances, the celebration represents how little it can be effective if it is confined to either dutiful corporate observances, or depoliticized commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the conditions of the present. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is necessary. An academic expert, a professor at a learning establishment, articulated it most accurately when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend actions for fair treatment and appreciation in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month altogether, thinking they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants of an period that has been ineffective.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and heritage of campaigns for equality – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – constitute an framework that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Well, first, 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 prominent figures of color) included in school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not shy away from political issues, and allows opportunity for citizens, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is basic knowledge of the past when it fails to address the current situation of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Institutions who mark it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of “microaggressions”, but challenged by the risks that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not treated with importance. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, urgent, and adaptive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is required – Black History is Now Month.
