Black History Month serves as a mirror of the political moment, so what steps can we take to refresh it?
It's Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between global Black communities, has developed a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate functions where individuals of African heritage are compensated to talk to white audiences about hidden biases and “allyship”. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the business of showcasing anti-racist commitment. However, that period has concluded. The wave has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.
The Origins of Black History Month
First commemorated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month grew out of this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the North America in February, but also in the tenth month in the Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Holland.
The month has evolved since that time, focusing less on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and more on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the observance is celebrated is a manifestation of the political moment. How it develops is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.
A Disconcerting Period
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the recent season we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a elected representative gains confidence to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are expanding in the EU as a complete entity.
In the America, a massive attack against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been brought, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the country. A effort to erase Black history and legacy from the historical documents is ongoing. One of the political figure's first executive orders focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the observance represents how little it can be influential if it is restricted to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than addressing the realities of the present. It also shows how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is needed. An academic expert, a educator at University of Greenwich, put it best when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The issue with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
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 treacherous thing. There is a inclination to just eliminate events including Black History Month completely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are vestiges of an era that has failed to deliver.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – form an infrastructure that a considerable labor has been invested in. It is there not just to decay as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as various establishments are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around notable African descendants) integrated into educational programs. It would also be a time that does not evade political issues, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What use is mere awareness of the past when it fails to address the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Organizations who observe it should not be reassured with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of subtle slights, but challenged by the threats that impact society if opposition to discrimination is not approached earnestly. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
