This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the political moment, so how do we revamp it?
We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an event that was initiated as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, expanding to include functions where individuals of African heritage are compensated to talk to Caucasian groups about hidden biases and supportive partnership. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s generated a rise in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The History of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in autumn in the UK, Germany, Éire and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The observance has evolved since that time, focusing less on the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and more on prominent Black figures in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with lectures and artistic activities. But the method the month is observed is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a instructive case in how assimilation leads to dismantling: the transformation of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.
A Jarring Moment
Hardly anything shows how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month more than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the recent season we witnessed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. 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 position where a legislator feels emboldened to state that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a reason for concern. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the EU as a whole.
In the United States, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A campaign to scrub the history of people of color and narrative from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands focused on the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how little it can be influential if it is restricted to either obligatory business commemorations, or depoliticized festivities of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the situation of the present. It also reveals how its limited duration means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is necessary. An academic expert, a educator at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the celebration. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden efforts for fair treatment and appreciation in such moments of dejection and worry is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month entirely, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an time that has not worked.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and heritage of activism for racial justice – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an infrastructure that a considerable labor has been dedicated to. It is there not just to decay as the situation evolves (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? To begin with, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around notable African descendants) included in school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not evade politics, and provides room for citizens, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Establishments who celebrate it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of hidden discrimination and awareness of subtle slights, but challenged by the threats that face all if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and responsive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is necessary – Contemporary Black History Month.