Black History Month is a reflection of the political moment, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an observance that began as a commemorative event of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, expanding to include events where Black people are paid to address white audiences about hidden biases and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The wave has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Originally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this movement and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in autumn in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has developed since that time, giving reduced attention to the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and more on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and widely honoring the contribution Black people have made to mold society. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the month is commemorated is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.
A Jarring Moment
Little demonstrates how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the shape of the Reform political group is leading the polls. In the warmer months we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. the Conservative leader, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a staunch adversary of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a legislator gains confidence to say that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Simultaneously, far-right parties are surging in the EU as a entirety.
In the United States, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, frequently with success, to the top legal institutions of the state. A campaign to erase the history of people of color and legacy from the records is ongoing. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how little it can be effective if it is limited to either obligatory business commemorations, or politically neutered commemorations of historical achievements, rather than addressing the conditions of the current era. It also reveals how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a educator at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the month. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just do away with things like Black History Month altogether, assuming they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an time that has not worked.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of campaigns for equality – community-based BLM initiatives, DEI programs, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an infrastructure that a considerable labor has gone into. 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 fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as some institutions are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not shy away from political issues, and leaves space for people, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves simple recognition of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Establishments who celebrate it should not be comforted with the passive language of hidden discrimination and awareness of “microaggressions”, but faced with the threats that affect everyone if anti-racism is not approached earnestly. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and responsive. It could be that an total re-identification is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.
