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This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an event that began as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has taken on a commercial tone, broadening to incorporate gatherings where individuals of African heritage are compensated to talk to Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The tide has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.

The History of Black History Celebration

First commemorated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of commemoration and observance in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in February, but also in October in the Britain, Germany, Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the narratives of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and widely honoring the impact Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the method the month is observed is a reflection of the current political situation. How it develops is a valuable example in how assimilation leads to weakening: the restructuring 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

Few things illustrate how important it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the particular moment in which it occurs this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the guise of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the recent season we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the right-wing political group, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels empowered to state that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, extreme conservative groups are surging in the European continent as a complete entity.

In the United States, a significant offensive against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the top legal institutions of the state. A campaign to remove the history of people of color and legacy from the historical documents is ongoing. One of the former president's first executive orders targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the prestigious establishment, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

In this context, the celebration illustrates how minimally it can be impactful if it is restricted to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content festivities of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the conditions of the current era. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. Denise Miller, a educator at University of Greenwich, put it best when she raised concerns about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”

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Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden efforts for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just eliminate events including Black History Month altogether, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an period that has not worked.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an infrastructure that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the situation evolves (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a dynamic entity.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) included in academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and provides room for individuals, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What value has mere awareness of the history when it fails to address the present reality of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the street? Organizations who mark it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and alertness to subtle slights, but challenged by the risks that face all if anti-racism is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, critical, and adaptive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is required – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.