Black History Month is a reflection of the prevailing political atmosphere, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
We are in Black History Month in the Britain, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has developed a corporate feel, expanding to include events where Black people are paid to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the enterprise of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The surge has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what increasing understanding is for.
The History of Black History Observance
Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of remembrance and recognition in the February's second week. 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 October in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, the Republic of Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the accounts of colonial slavery and struggles for equality, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and widely honoring the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the month is celebrated is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it evolves is a good lesson in how co-option leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Jarring Moment
Hardly anything shows how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the recent season we witnessed the largest far-right rally in the history of Britain. a prominent political figure, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a legislator feels empowered to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in specific city neighborhoods is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are growing in the EU as a entirety.
In the United States, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been brought, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A campaign to scrub African American heritage and experience from the records is in progress. One of the former president's initial presidential directives targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the celebration represents how little it can be influential if it is limited to either obligatory business commemorations, or depoliticized celebrations of contributions in the past, rather than challenging the realities of the current era. It also shows how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the broader ongoing work that is required. An academic expert, a professor at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The issue with adopting a symbolic stance”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a catalyst for change.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden actions for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month entirely, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are remnants of an period that has been ineffective.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form an infrastructure that a significant effort has been dedicated to. 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 fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed through the year (as various establishments are already starting to implement), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not shy away from politics, and provides room for citizens, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What use is basic knowledge of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Establishments who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to subtle slights, but faced with the threats that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, urgent, and responsive. Perhaps an entire name rebrand is required – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
