🔗 Share this article

This is Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an event that started out as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a corporate feel, expanding to include functions where African descendants are remunerated to address Caucasian groups about hidden biases and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what increasing understanding is for.

The Origins of Black History Month

First commemorated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this movement and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in October in the UK, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Holland.

The observance has evolved since those days, focusing less on the accounts of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and increasingly on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the way the month is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it progresses is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

---

A Jarring Moment

Few things illustrate how important it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the warmer months we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels empowered to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in Europe as a entirety.

In the United States, a colossal assault against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the top legal institutions of the state. A effort to erase Black history and narrative from the historical documents is under way. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.

In this context, the month represents how little it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the current era. It also shows how its short period means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is necessary. Denise Miller, a prof at a learning establishment, put it best when she raised concerns about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

---

Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to adjust, modify and expand initiatives for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just discontinue events including Black History Month completely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an period that has not worked.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and heritage of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and yes, even those talks to businesses – represent an framework that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) included in educational programs. It would also be a period that does not shy away from political issues, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What value has mere awareness of the past when it fails to address the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Organizations who celebrate it should not be reassured with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that affect everyone if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, urgent, and reactive. Perhaps an total re-identification is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.