Black History Month is a reflection of the prevailing political atmosphere, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. As time has passed, an celebration that began as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to speak with predominantly white listeners about hidden biases and active solidarity. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s generated a rise in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has reached its height, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.
The History of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this movement and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The period has developed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with talks and cultural events. But the way the month is commemorated is a reflection of the political moment. How it develops is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to tackle systemic and institutional racism.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month as much as the particular moment in which it occurs this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform political group is ahead in surveys. In the warmer months we saw the largest far-right rally in British history. the Conservative leader, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a firm opponent of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a elected representative feels emboldened to declare that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. At the same time, far-right parties are growing in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, often successfully, to the highest courts of the state. A drive to remove Black history and legacy from the historical documents is under way. One of Donald Trump's first executive orders focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the month represents how minimally it can be influential if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the conditions of the current era. It also reveals how its short period means that it is separated from the wider consistent effort that is required. A university professor, a prof at a learning establishment, expressed it perfectly when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she stated, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a challenging endeavor. There is a inclination to just do away with events including Black History Month entirely, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an time that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form 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 contemporary active Black History Month seem? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed across all seasons (as some institutions are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not evade governmental matters, and provides room for citizens, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What value has basic knowledge of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Organizations who celebrate it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and alertness to subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and reactive. It could be that an total re-identification is required – Contemporary Black History Month.
