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This is Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a rethink. As time has passed, an celebration that began as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a commercial tone, growing to encompass events where Black people are paid to speak with white audiences about “unconscious bias” and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The tide has peaked, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.

The History of Black History Celebration

First commemorated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the North America in winter, but also in autumn in the UK, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Holland.

The month has transformed since that time, focusing less on the narratives of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the manner the month is celebrated is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it develops is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the transformation of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to tackle structural and organizational discrimination.

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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 UK, a reemerging right-wing in the form of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the right-wing political group, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a elected representative feels empowered to declare that a lack of white people in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are growing in Europe as a complete entity.

In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, often successfully, to the highest courts of the nation. A campaign to erase Black history and legacy from the historical documents is under way. One of the political figure's early administrative commands targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as naturally discriminatory”.

Against this backdrop, the observance represents how minimally it can be effective if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized festivities of historical achievements, rather than challenging the situation of the present. It also reveals how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. A university professor, a educator at University of Greenwich, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”

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Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for fair treatment and appreciation in such times of discouragement and concern is a difficult task. There is a urge to just do away with things like Black History Month entirely, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are vestiges of an era that has been ineffective.

But despite everything, 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 indeed, including corporate presentations – form an foundation that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not shy away from political issues, and allows opportunity for people, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What value has mere awareness of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of far-right rallies in the street? Establishments who celebrate it should not be comforted with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and awareness of subtle slights, but challenged by the risks that face all if opposition to discrimination is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and reactive. Perhaps an total re-identification is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.