Black History Month is a reflection of the current political climate, so how do we revamp it?
We are in Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. As time has passed, an observance that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, growing to encompass gatherings where African descendants are compensated to talk to predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has peaked, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this movement and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in October in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and the Holland.
The period has evolved since its inception, placing less emphasis on the accounts of colonial slavery and struggles for equality, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the manner the observance is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it develops is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.
A Troubling Time
Little demonstrates how crucial it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the Britain, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. a prominent political figure, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of anti-racism activism, and we are in a place where a elected representative gains confidence to state that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a source of worry. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the EU as a entirety.
In the US, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the state. A drive to remove Black history and narrative from the records is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's first executive orders aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the observance illustrates how little it can be impactful if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the situation of the present. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. A university professor, a professor at a learning establishment, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a urge to just discontinue things like Black History Month entirely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an era that has failed to deliver.
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, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an infrastructure that a considerable labor has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the situation evolves (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not shy away from political issues, and leaves space for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What value has mere awareness of the past when it fails to address the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Establishments who celebrate it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and alertness to subtle slights, but faced with the threats that affect everyone if anti-racism is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an complete renaming is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.
