The annual Black History observance serves as a mirror of the prevailing political atmosphere, 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. As time has passed, an celebration that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include events where African descendants are paid to address white audiences about “unconscious bias” and supportive partnership. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s created a surge in the business of showcasing anti-racist commitment. However, that period has concluded. The wave has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in the tenth month in the UK, Germany, Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has evolved since those days, focusing less on the accounts of transatlantic enslavement and struggles for equality, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the month is commemorated is a reflection of the political moment. How it progresses is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Little demonstrates how crucial it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the warmer months we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a situation where a elected representative feels emboldened to say that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the EU as a entirety.
In the US, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A campaign to erase Black history and narrative from the archives is in progress. One of the former president's initial presidential directives aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.
Against this backdrop, the month symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or politically neutered commemorations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the situation of the contemporary world. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. A university professor, a educator at University of Greenwich, put it best when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden efforts for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month completely, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an era that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – form an foundation that a lot of work has been invested in. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as various establishments are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into educational programs. It would also be a period that does not shy away from governmental matters, and provides room for citizens, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What value has mere awareness of the past when it fails to address the contemporary truth of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Institutions who celebrate it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of hidden discrimination and alertness to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the threats that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made current, urgent, and responsive. Perhaps an complete renaming is required – Black History is Now Month.
