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It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. As time has passed, an event that began as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has adopted a commercial tone, broadening to incorporate functions where Black people are compensated to speak with predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for.

The Background of Black History Month

Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with seven days of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this movement and was officially launched in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.

The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the narratives of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and more on notable African descendants in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with lectures and artistic activities. But the manner the month is commemorated is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it evolves is a instructive case in how co-option leads to erosion: the reshaping of Black History Month has hindered the purpose of it, which is to tackle structural and organizational discrimination.

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A Jarring Moment

Few things illustrate how crucial it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we observed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of anti-racism activism, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels emboldened to state that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the European continent as a whole.

In the United States, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A effort to scrub African American heritage and experience from the archives is under way. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.

In this context, the observance symbolises how little it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the realities of the present. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is separated from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. Denise Miller, a educator at University of Greenwich, put it best when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”

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Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Establishing how to adjust, modify and expand initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such times of discouragement and concern is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just do away with observances such as Black History Month altogether, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an period that has been ineffective.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – constitute an foundation that a lot of work has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.

So what would a contemporary active Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed through the year (as various establishments are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not evade politics, and leaves space for citizens, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves simple recognition of the past when it ignores the present reality of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Organizations who observe it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of subtle slights, but confronted with the threats that affect everyone if anti-racism is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and responsive. Perhaps an total re-identification is in order – Black History is Now Month.