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This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an observance that was initiated as a festivity and recollection of history, culture and the connections between Black populations worldwide, has developed a business-like atmosphere, growing to encompass events where individuals of African heritage are compensated to talk to white audiences about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what increasing understanding is for.

The History of Black History Month

Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this initiative and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The month has evolved since its inception, focusing less on the histories of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on prominent Black figures in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the method the observance is celebrated is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it evolves is a good lesson in how co-option leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

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A Jarring Moment

Little demonstrates how critical it is to rethink Black History Month more than the particular moment in which it occurs this year. In the UK, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the summer we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the right-wing political group, is a staunch adversary of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a legislator feels emboldened to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in Europe as a entirety.

In the United States, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A campaign to scrub Black history and narrative from the records is under way. One of the political figure's first executive orders focused on the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as naturally discriminatory”.

In this context, the month illustrates how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or politically neutered celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the present. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is required. A university professor, a prof at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she raised concerns about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”

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Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning

Determining how to adjust, modify and expand initiatives for fair treatment and appreciation in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just do away with events including Black History Month entirely, believing they are inadequate for current needs, or are relics of an time that has not worked.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an framework that a considerable labor has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not avoid politics, and provides room for people, particularly young people, to express their concerns and stories. What value has simple recognition of the bygone era when it ignores the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the street? Establishments who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the risks that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and responsive. Maybe an total re-identification is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.