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This is Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has developed a corporate feel, growing to encompass gatherings where Black people are paid to speak with white audiences about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what raising awareness is for.

The History of Black History Observance

Originally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the February's second week. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in October in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The observance has evolved since its inception, giving reduced attention to the accounts of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and increasingly on notable African descendants in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with talks and cultural events. But the manner the observance is commemorated is a reflection of the political moment. How it progresses is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.

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A Jarring Moment

Little demonstrates how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the shape of the Reform political group is leading the polls. In the summer we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. a prominent political figure, the person of color at the helm of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a position where a legislator feels empowered to state that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. At the same time, far-right parties are growing in the European continent as a whole.

In the US, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the nation. A effort to erase the history of people of color and narrative from the records is under way. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the prestigious establishment, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by depicting the United States “as inherently racist”.

Against this backdrop, the celebration symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered commemorations of historical achievements, rather than challenging the conditions of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. A university professor, a professor at an educational institution, put it best when she raised concerns about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

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Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Establishing how to alter, change and broaden actions for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month entirely, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an time that has been ineffective.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – form an foundation that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month seem? Firstly, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already starting to implement), sections of its curriculum (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not avoid political issues, and allows opportunity for people, particularly young people, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the past when it ignores the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the street? Organizations who celebrate it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the dangers that face all if anti-racism is not treated with importance. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Black History is Now Month.