This commemorative month acts as a gauge of the current political climate, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an event that began as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has developed a business-like atmosphere, growing to encompass gatherings where Black people are remunerated to address predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the industry of displaying cultural sensitivity. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
Originally observed in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with seven days of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this initiative and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in October in the UK, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The month has transformed since those days, placing less emphasis on the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and increasingly 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 educational institutions where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the manner the celebration is commemorated is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to confront systemic and institutional racism.
A Jarring Moment
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a revitalized conservative movement in the shape of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the warmer months we witnessed the largest far-right rally in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the Tory party, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament feels empowered to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the US, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the top legal institutions of the state. A campaign to scrub Black history and experience from the historical documents is under way. One of Donald Trump's first executive orders focused on the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a organized and extensive campaign to change the national past” by depicting the United States “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Against this backdrop, the month represents how insufficiently it can be influential if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content festivities of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the conditions of the contemporary world. It also demonstrates how its limited duration means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is necessary. Denise Miller, a educator at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the celebration. “The issue with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Establishing how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a inclination to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month altogether, believing they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants 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 tradition of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form an foundation that a considerable labor has been invested in. 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 contemporary active Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already starting to implement), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not avoid governmental matters, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves mere awareness of the past when it ignores the current situation of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Establishments who mark it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and alertness to minor insults, but challenged by the threats that face all if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Black History is Now Month.
