Black History Month serves as a mirror of the prevailing political atmosphere, so how do we revamp it?
This is Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an celebration that began as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a corporate feel, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are paid to address Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade sparked an increase in the enterprise of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The tide has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Origins of Black History Observance
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in October in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.
The period has evolved since those days, focusing less on the narratives of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and widely honoring the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the manner the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it evolves is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the point of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.
A Jarring Moment
Little demonstrates how crucial it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the warmer months we observed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a elected representative gains confidence to say that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a reason for concern. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the EU as a complete entity.
In the United States, a colossal assault against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A drive to scrub the history of people of color and narrative from the archives is ongoing. One of the former president's initial presidential directives focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to change the national past” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the observance represents how minimally it can be influential if it is limited to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content festivities of historical achievements, rather than addressing the conditions of the present. It also reveals how its short period means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is needed. Denise Miller, a educator at a learning establishment, put it best when she voiced worries about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden initiatives for fair treatment and appreciation in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month completely, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an time that has failed to deliver.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – form an infrastructure that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as some institutions are already starting to implement), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and provides room for people, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What value has simple recognition of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of far-right rallies in the urban areas? Organizations who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and alertness to subtle slights, but faced with the threats that impact society if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made current, urgent, and responsive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
