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This is Black History Month in the UK, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an event that started out as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has adopted a commercial tone, growing to encompass events where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to speak with Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s generated a rise in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The tide has crested, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what increasing understanding is for.

The History of Black History Celebration

First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the North America in the second month, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, the Republic of Ireland and the Holland.

The period has transformed since that time, focusing less on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and widely honoring the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with lectures and artistic activities. But the manner the celebration is celebrated is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it develops is a good lesson in how co-option leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

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A Jarring Moment

Few things illustrate how important it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the warmer months we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament feels empowered to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Simultaneously, far-right parties are growing in Europe as a entirety.

In the US, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the highest courts of the state. A campaign to erase Black history and legacy from the records is in progress. One of the political figure's first executive orders targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.

Against this backdrop, the observance illustrates how little it can be influential if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content festivities of historical achievements, rather than addressing the situation of the present. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is needed. Denise Miller, a prof at a learning establishment, put it best when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she stated, “is that it often means that Black History Month evolves into a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”

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Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to alter, change and broaden initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just eliminate observances such as Black History Month completely, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an time that has not worked.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an infrastructure that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the situation evolves (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 more than a single focused period: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as some institutions are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) included in academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not avoid political issues, and leaves space for people, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What value has mere awareness of the history when it fails to address the current situation of far-right rallies in the street? Organizations who mark it should not be pacified with the passive language of implicit prejudice and awareness of minor insults, but challenged by the dangers that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and reactive. Perhaps an total re-identification is required – Black History is Now Month.