Black History Month serves as a mirror of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
It's Black History Month in the UK, and it appears it’s time for a rethink. As time has passed, an celebration that started out as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has developed a corporate feel, growing to encompass functions where individuals of African heritage are paid to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the industry of displaying cultural sensitivity. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in autumn in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The observance has transformed since those days, placing less emphasis on the histories of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to mold society. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the way the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a instructive case in how assimilation leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to address embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how important it is to rethink Black History Month more than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the summer 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 Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament gains confidence to declare that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, extreme conservative groups are growing in the European continent as a entirety.
In the US, a colossal assault against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the top legal institutions of the nation. A drive to remove African American heritage and experience from the archives is in progress. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the celebration symbolises how insufficiently it can be influential if it is restricted to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content festivities of historical achievements, rather than confronting the situation of the contemporary world. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is needed. Denise Miller, a educator at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a catalyst for change.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such times of discouragement and concern is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just eliminate events including Black History Month completely, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are vestiges of an era that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an foundation that a considerable labor has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the situation evolves (and in fact, declines), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around notable African descendants) included in school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not evade politics, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is basic knowledge of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Institutions who mark it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of hidden discrimination and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but faced with the dangers that face all if anti-racism is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is necessary – Black History is Now Month.
