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This is Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a rethink. As time has passed, an observance that was initiated as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has adopted a commercial tone, expanding to include gatherings where individuals of African heritage are remunerated to address predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the industry of showcasing anti-racist commitment. However, that period has concluded. The surge has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what increasing understanding is for.

The Origins of Black History Observance

Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, 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 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 February, but also in October in the UK, Germany, Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The month has evolved since that time, focusing less on the accounts of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the method the observance is observed is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it develops 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 tackle embedded and established prejudice.

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A Disconcerting Period

Few things illustrate how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it takes place this year. In the UK, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the summer we observed the largest far-right rally in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the person of color at the helm of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a elected representative feels emboldened to declare that the absence of Caucasian individuals in parts of a city is a source of worry. Simultaneously, extreme conservative groups are expanding in the European continent as a whole.

In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A effort to remove African American heritage and legacy from the archives is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands targeted the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the renowned cultural organization, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

Given these circumstances, the observance illustrates how little it can be effective if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized festivities of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the realities of the contemporary world. It also shows how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is required. A university professor, a educator at an educational institution, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the fleeting superficial actions of the observance. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

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Reconsidering, Not Discarding

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend efforts for racial equality and recognition in such moments of dejection and worry is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just discontinue things like Black History Month altogether, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an era that has been ineffective.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an infrastructure that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a dynamic entity.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into educational programs. It would also be a era that does not evade political issues, and leaves space for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What use is mere awareness of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of far-right rallies in the urban areas? Institutions who observe it should not be reassured with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and alertness to “microaggressions”, but faced with the dangers that face all if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and responsive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is necessary – Black History is Now Month.