Black History Month acts as a gauge of the current political climate, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the UK, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an event that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include functions where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to address predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the enterprise of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The surge has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
Originally observed in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this movement and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in autumn in the UK, Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.
The period has transformed since those days, giving reduced attention to the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and widely honoring the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to dismantling: the transformation of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Disconcerting Period
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month more than the current time in which it takes place this year. In the UK, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the warmer months we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a elected representative feels emboldened to state that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a source of worry. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in Europe as a entirety.
In the US, a massive attack against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A effort to remove the history of people of color and narrative from the records is under way. One of the former president's first executive orders aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
Against this backdrop, the celebration symbolises how insufficiently it can be influential if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than addressing the conditions of the current era. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. An academic expert, a educator at a learning establishment, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the month. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Establishing how to adapt, revise and extend initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such times of discouragement and concern is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just discontinue events including Black History Month entirely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an period that has failed to deliver.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of activism for racial justice – community-based BLM initiatives, DEI programs, and yes, even those talks to businesses – represent an foundation that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not merely to decline as the politics moves on (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around prominent figures of color) integrated into educational programs. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and allows opportunity for people, particularly young people, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves mere awareness of the past when it ignores the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Establishments who observe it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but faced with the dangers that impact society if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and responsive. Perhaps an entire name rebrand is required – Black History is Now Month.
