The annual Black History observance serves as a mirror of the current political climate, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. Over the years, an observance that started out as a commemorative event of history, culture and the connections between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate events where Black people are paid to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The wave has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what increasing understanding is for.
The Background of Black History Celebration
Originally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month grew out of this movement and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in the tenth month in the Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the accounts of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and greater focus on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the input 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 way the observance is observed is a reflection of the current political situation. How it progresses is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has hindered the purpose of it, which is to address embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how important it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the summer we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a member of parliament feels emboldened to say that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, extreme conservative groups are expanding in Europe as a whole.
In the America, a colossal assault against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the country. A drive to remove Black history and narrative from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump's first executive orders aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
In this context, the celebration illustrates how minimally it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized commemorations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the conditions of the contemporary world. It also demonstrates how its short period means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is needed. An academic expert, a educator at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just do away with events including Black History Month altogether, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants of an time that has been ineffective.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of activism for racial justice – community-based BLM initiatives, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an framework that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not just to decay as the situation evolves (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not avoid governmental matters, and leaves space for individuals, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What use is simple recognition of the bygone era when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Establishments who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of implicit prejudice and alertness to minor insults, but challenged by the risks that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not treated with importance. To summarize, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is in order – Black History is Now Month.
