This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the political moment, so in what ways can we modernize it?
This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an observance that started out as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a commercial tone, growing to encompass gatherings where African descendants are remunerated to speak with Caucasian groups about hidden biases and active solidarity. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the industry of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in October in the UK, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The month has transformed since those days, placing less emphasis on the accounts of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and more on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the method the observance is observed is a reflection of the current political situation. How it develops is a good lesson in how co-option leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Jarring Moment
Little demonstrates how crucial it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament feels emboldened to declare that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a source of worry. At the same time, far-right parties are growing in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the US, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the state. A drive to remove African American heritage and legacy from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how little it can be effective if it is confined to either dutiful corporate observances, or politically neutered festivities of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the current era. It also reveals how its short period means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is needed. An academic expert, a prof at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The issue with adopting a symbolic stance”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend initiatives for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month entirely, thinking they are no longer suitable, 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 tradition of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an framework that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the situation evolves (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month appear as? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as various establishments are already starting to implement), sections of its curriculum (particularly around notable African descendants) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not shy away from political issues, and leaves space for individuals, particularly youth, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the street? Establishments who observe it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and alertness to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the dangers that impact society if anti-racism is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, critical, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
