🔗 Share this article

It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an observance that started out as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, broadening to incorporate functions where individuals of African heritage are paid to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The wave has crested, 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 created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and civil rights battles, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and widely honoring the contribution Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the observance is commemorated is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the purpose of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

---

A Jarring Moment

Few things illustrate how critical it is to rethink Black History Month better than the specific period in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a revitalized conservative movement in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. a prominent political figure, the African descendant in charge of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a legislator gains confidence to declare that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a source of worry. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the EU as a whole.

In the America, a massive attack against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been taken, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the state. A effort to erase Black history and legacy from the records is under way. One of the political figure's early administrative commands targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

In this context, the month represents how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or depoliticized festivities of historical achievements, rather than addressing the realities of the present. It also demonstrates how its limited duration means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is needed. An academic expert, a educator at an educational institution, put it best when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the observance. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a brief show rather than a catalyst for change.”

---

Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just eliminate events including Black History Month altogether, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an period that has failed to deliver.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of campaigns for equality – local anti-racism groups, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – constitute an infrastructure that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a dynamic entity.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed across all seasons (as some institutions are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade governmental matters, and provides room for people, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What use is basic knowledge of the history when it fails to address the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Organizations who observe it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and awareness of “microaggressions”, but confronted with the dangers that impact society if anti-racism is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and responsive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.