This commemorative month serves as a mirror of the current political climate, so how do we revamp it?

We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an event that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has developed a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include events where African descendants are compensated to speak with white audiences about hidden biases and active solidarity. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s created a surge in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.

The Origins of Black History Observance

First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was created in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition 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 US and Canada in winter, but also in October in the UK, Deutschland, Éire and the Netherlands.

The period has evolved 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 broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the manner the celebration is celebrated is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a instructive case in how co-option leads to dismantling: the transformation of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to tackle systemic and institutional racism.

A Troubling Time

Little demonstrates how important it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the current time in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the shape of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the warmer months we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a legislator gains confidence to declare that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in Europe as a entirety.

In the US, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been carried, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the nation. A drive to erase the history of people of color and narrative from the historical documents is in progress. One of the former president's first executive orders aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by depicting the United States “as inherently racist”.

In this context, the month illustrates how insufficiently it can be effective if it is confined to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content celebrations of historical achievements, rather than confronting the situation of the present. It also demonstrates how its limited duration means that it is detached from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”

Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning

Establishing how to alter, change and broaden actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a urge to just discontinue observances such as Black History Month altogether, believing they are no longer suitable, or are vestiges of an era that has failed to deliver.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form an foundation that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the situation evolves (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a contemporary active Black History Month appear as? To begin with, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed through the year (as some institutions are already starting to implement), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not evade political issues, and provides room for citizens, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the past when it fails to address the current situation of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Organizations who observe it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of “microaggressions”, but faced with the threats that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and reactive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is necessary – Contemporary Black History Month.