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This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a commemorative event of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has taken on a business-like atmosphere, growing to encompass functions where African descendants are compensated to talk to white audiences about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade sparked an increase in the industry of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what increasing understanding is for.

The Origins of Black History Month

Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the North America in the second month, but also in October in the Britain, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The month has evolved since that time, focusing less on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and widely honoring the impact Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the celebration is observed is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a good lesson in how co-option leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.

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A Disconcerting Period

Little demonstrates how crucial it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the current time in which it falls this year. In the UK, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in British history. 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 legislator gains confidence to say that a lack of white people in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the EU as a complete entity.

In the US, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A effort to remove African American heritage and narrative from the historical documents is in progress. One of the former president's first executive orders targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

Given these circumstances, the observance symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or depoliticized commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the situation of the present. It also reveals how its short period means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. An academic expert, a professor at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a transient display rather than a catalyst for change.”

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Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend actions for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just discontinue events including Black History Month entirely, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are vestiges of an period that has not worked.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of campaigns for equality – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an foundation that a considerable labor has been invested in. It is there not merely to decline as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and leaves space for people, particularly young people, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the past when it ignores the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the street? Establishments who mark it should not be reassured with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and alertness to subtle slights, but challenged by the dangers that affect everyone if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and reactive. Perhaps an total re-identification is in order – Black History is Now Month.