Black History Month acts as a gauge of the prevailing political atmosphere, so in what ways can we modernize it?
This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. As time has passed, an celebration that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a commercial tone, broadening to incorporate gatherings where individuals of African heritage are paid to address predominantly white listeners about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade sparked an increase in the industry of displaying cultural sensitivity. Yet, that phase is now over. The wave has peaked, producing a diluted aftermath of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Background of Black History Observance
Originally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this movement and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in autumn in the Britain, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The observance has developed since that time, placing less emphasis on the narratives of colonial slavery and struggles for equality, and increasingly on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the month is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it evolves is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the recent season we witnessed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. a prominent political figure, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a legislator feels empowered to state that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are growing in the European continent as a entirety.
In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A effort to remove African American heritage and legacy from the archives is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to change the national past” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the observance illustrates how minimally it can be effective if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of contributions in the past, rather than addressing the realities of the current era. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is detached from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. A university professor, a prof at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she expressed apprehension about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month turns into a fleeting performance rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reevaluating, Not Abandoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just do away with events including Black History Month altogether, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an time that has been ineffective.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and legacy of campaigns for equality – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an framework that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? To begin with, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed through the year (as some institutions are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not evade political issues, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to air their fears and experiences. What purpose serves mere awareness of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Institutions who observe it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the threats that impact society if anti-racism is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and reactive. It could be that an total re-identification is necessary – Black History is Now Month.
