This commemorative month is a reflection of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
We are in Black History Month in the Britain, and it feels like it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an observance that began as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include functions where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to talk to Caucasian groups about hidden biases and supportive partnership. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The wave has peaked, producing a diluted aftermath of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
First commemorated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was officially launched in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the UK, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The period has developed since that time, giving reduced attention to the histories of colonial slavery and struggles for equality, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and widely honoring the impact Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the month is commemorated is a indication of the current political situation. How it develops is a good lesson in how co-option leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to address embedded and established prejudice.
A Jarring Moment
Few things illustrate how crucial it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the current time in which it occurs this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the guise of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the recent season we saw the largest far-right rally in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels emboldened to declare that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are growing in Europe as a entirety.
In the US, a massive attack against DEI and affirmative action has been brought, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A drive to erase the history of people of color and legacy from the historical documents is under way. One of the former president's early administrative commands targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
In this context, the month represents how little it can be influential if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered commemorations of former accomplishments, rather than addressing the conditions of the present. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is detached from the broader ongoing work that is required. A university professor, a educator at an educational institution, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the celebration. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such times of discouragement and concern is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just eliminate observances such as Black History Month completely, believing they are inadequate for current needs, or are relics of an time that has not worked.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and legacy of campaigns for equality – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – represent an framework that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as some institutions are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around notable African descendants) included in academic syllabi. It would also be a era that does not evade governmental matters, and leaves space for citizens, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves mere awareness of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Institutions who celebrate it should not be reassured with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the dangers that impact society if opposition to discrimination is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and reactive. Perhaps an complete renaming is required – Black History is Now Month.
