🔗 Share this article

This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an event that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, growing to encompass events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to talk to white audiences about hidden biases and “allyship”. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The surge has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.

The Origins of Black History Observance

Originally observed 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 multiple days of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this movement and was publicly established in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the North America in the second month, but also in autumn in the Britain, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The observance has evolved since that time, giving reduced attention to the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and more on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the celebration is celebrated is a reflection of the current political situation. How it develops is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.

---

A Troubling Time

Little demonstrates how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform party is top in opinion ratings. In the recent season we observed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a elected representative gains confidence to state that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, extreme conservative groups are expanding in Europe as a complete entity.

In the US, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been carried, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A effort to remove African American heritage and experience from the records is ongoing. One of the political figure's first executive orders targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

In this context, the observance represents how little it can be impactful if it is limited to either dutiful corporate observances, or depoliticized festivities of former accomplishments, rather than addressing the realities of the present. It also reveals how its short period means that it is disconnected from the more extensive continuous action that is needed. An academic expert, a prof at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the observance. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”

---

Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for fair treatment and appreciation in such times of discouragement and concern is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just eliminate events including Black History Month completely, believing they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an time that has been ineffective.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – form an infrastructure that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade governmental matters, and leaves space for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What use is simple recognition of the history when it ignores the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Organizations who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to minor insults, but confronted with the dangers that impact society if anti-racism is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is required – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.