Black History Month acts as a gauge of the current political climate, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an observance that started out as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has developed a commercial tone, broadening to incorporate gatherings where individuals of African heritage are paid to address predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Origins of Black History Celebration
Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in autumn in the UK, Deutschland, Éire and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The observance has transformed since that time, giving reduced attention to the accounts of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and more on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the method the month is commemorated is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how critical it is to rethink Black History Month better than the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we observed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in British history. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the right-wing political group, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels emboldened to say that the absence of Caucasian individuals in parts of a city is a reason for concern. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the European continent as a entirety.
In the United States, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the highest courts of the state. A drive to remove the history of people of color and experience from the archives is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's first executive orders focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.
Against this backdrop, the month symbolises how little it can be influential if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content celebrations of historical achievements, rather than challenging the conditions of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its short period means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is required. Denise Miller, a prof at a learning establishment, put it best when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the month. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Determining how to adapt, revise and extend initiatives for fair treatment and appreciation in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month completely, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an period that has been ineffective.
Yet, in spite of all this, 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 certainly, even commercial engagements – form an infrastructure that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already starting to implement), parts of its content (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 the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What value has simple recognition of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Organizations who celebrate it should not be pacified with the passive language of implicit prejudice and awareness of minor insults, but challenged by the risks that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and responsive. It could be that an complete renaming is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
