🔗 Share this article

This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an event that started out as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has adopted a commercial tone, expanding to include functions where African descendants are remunerated to talk to white audiences about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The surge has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.

The Origins of Black History Month

First commemorated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in the tenth month in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.

The period has evolved since those days, focusing less on the accounts of colonial slavery and struggles for equality, and more on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, 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 talks and cultural events. But the method the observance is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it evolves is a instructive case in how co-option leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.

---

A Jarring Moment

Little demonstrates how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it takes place this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the history of Britain. a prominent political figure, the African descendant in charge of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a elected representative gains confidence to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in specific city neighborhoods is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the European continent as a whole.

In the America, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A effort to erase Black history and legacy from the historical documents is ongoing. One of the former president's initial presidential directives focused on the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.

In this context, the celebration illustrates how minimally it can be impactful if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the realities of the present. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is required. An academic expert, a educator at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the month. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a catalyst for change.”

---

Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month altogether, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an era that has failed to deliver.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the complete comprehensive structure and legacy of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an framework that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as some institutions are already commencing), sections of its curriculum (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not evade politics, and provides room for people, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is mere awareness of the past when it ignores the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the urban areas? Establishments who celebrate it should not be pacified with the passive language of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that affect everyone if opposition to discrimination is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, critical, and adaptive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is required – Contemporary Black History Month.