🔗 Share this article

This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an event that began as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between Black populations worldwide, has adopted a commercial tone, expanding to include functions where African descendants are compensated to address predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The surge has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what promoting consciousness is for.

The Background of Black History Observance

Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with seven days of commemoration and observance in the February's second week. Black History Month grew out of this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The period has evolved since those days, focusing less on the narratives of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the impact Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the way the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a valuable example in how co-option leads to dismantling: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

---

A Jarring Moment

Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the form of the Reform political group is leading the polls. In the summer we witnessed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a member of parliament feels emboldened to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the European continent as a whole.

In the America, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A effort to erase the history of people of color and legacy from the historical documents is under way. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as inherently racist”.

In this context, the month symbolises how little it can be influential if it is restricted to either dutiful corporate observances, or politically neutered commemorations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the current era. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”

---

Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month completely, assuming they are no longer suitable, or are remnants of an period that has failed to deliver.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an infrastructure that a considerable labor has gone into. 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 extended beyond a brief observance: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as some institutions are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) included in educational programs. It would also be a time that does not avoid political issues, and provides room for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What use is mere awareness of the bygone era when it fails to address the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the street? Organizations who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to minor insults, but faced with the risks that affect everyone if anti-racism is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and adaptive. It could be that an complete renaming is required – Contemporary Black History Month.