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 Britain, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an event that began as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has developed a commercial tone, expanding to include events where Black people are remunerated to speak with white audiences about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The surge has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Origins of Black History Month
Originally observed in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in October in the UK, Germany, Éire and the Holland.
The month has transformed since those days, placing less emphasis on the accounts of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the observance is celebrated is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a valuable example in how assimilation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to tackle structural and organizational discrimination.
A Disconcerting Period
Few things illustrate how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the particular moment in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we observed the largest far-right rally in the history of Britain. the Conservative leader, the person of color at the helm of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a elected representative gains confidence to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are expanding in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the United States, a massive attack against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the highest courts of the state. A drive to erase African American heritage and experience from the archives is in progress. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by depicting the United States “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the observance represents how insufficiently it can be effective if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of historical achievements, rather than confronting the situation of the contemporary world. It also demonstrates how its short period means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a professor at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Determining how to alter, change and broaden efforts for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just do away with things like Black History Month entirely, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an era that has failed to deliver.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an foundation that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the situation evolves (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month appear as? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around notable African descendants) integrated into educational programs. It would also be a period that does not avoid politics, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves simple recognition of the bygone era when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Organizations who observe it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of hidden discrimination and alertness to minor insults, but challenged by the dangers that impact society if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and reactive. Maybe an total re-identification is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
