The annual Black History observance acts as a gauge of the current political climate, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an event that began as a commemorative event of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has taken on a corporate feel, expanding to include functions where Black people are remunerated to talk to white audiences about “unconscious bias” and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The wave has peaked, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The History of Black History Month
Originally observed in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established 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 February's second week. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland and the Holland.
The period has transformed since those days, focusing less on the accounts of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the observance is observed is a reflection of the current political situation. How it develops is a valuable example in how co-option leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to tackle systemic and institutional racism.
A Troubling Time
Little demonstrates how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the current time in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform political group is ahead in surveys. In the recent season we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the right-wing political group, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels emboldened to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, extreme conservative groups are expanding in the EU as a entirety.
In the America, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the highest courts of the country. A effort to erase African American heritage and narrative from the archives is ongoing. One of the former president's early administrative commands focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the observance illustrates how minimally it can be impactful if it is limited to either dutiful corporate observances, or depoliticized commemorations of historical achievements, rather than addressing the realities of the current era. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action 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 observance. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Determining how to adjust, modify and expand actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a urge to just eliminate events including Black History Month altogether, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an time that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an foundation that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not just to decay as the situation evolves (and in fact, declines), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as some institutions are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) included in educational programs. It would also be a era that does not evade politics, and allows opportunity for people, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What value has mere awareness of the history when it fails to address the current situation of far-right rallies in the urban areas? Institutions who mark it should not be comforted with the passive language of implicit prejudice and alertness to subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that impact society if opposition to discrimination is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, urgent, and responsive. It could be that an complete renaming is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.
