This commemorative month is a reflection of the current political climate, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include functions where Black people are compensated to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.
The History of Black History Celebration
First commemorated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this movement and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The period has developed since its inception, focusing less on the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on notable African descendants in politics, culture, and activism, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with talks and cultural events. But the method the month is commemorated is a indication of the political moment. How it evolves is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the point of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Disconcerting Period
Little demonstrates how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month more than the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the summer we witnessed the largest far-right rally in the UK's past. a prominent political figure, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a elected representative feels empowered to say that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Simultaneously, far-right parties are surging in Europe as a complete entity.
In the United States, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A campaign to erase Black history and legacy from the archives is ongoing. One of the former president's early administrative commands targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the prestigious establishment, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to change the national past” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
Given these circumstances, the observance symbolises how minimally it can be impactful if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content festivities of historical achievements, rather than challenging the conditions of the present. It also shows how its short period means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she raised concerns about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Establishing how to adjust, modify and expand actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month altogether, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an period that has failed to deliver.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and heritage of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – form an foundation that a considerable labor has gone into. 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 look like? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed across all seasons (as some institutions are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not avoid political issues, and provides room for citizens, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves mere awareness of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Establishments who celebrate it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the risks that face all if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, critical, and reactive. Perhaps an entire name rebrand is required – Contemporary Black History Month.
