Why BHM is so important

Nothing would make me happier than for Black History Month to be consigned to the very thing that it informs us of.  History.  Not just our history but the history of all of us, regardless of racial or cultural origin.  Its purpose then, is it to rebalance the history as traditionally taught so that it reflects the wider community which we are all part of.  The mistake people make is that they assume that it is simply for black people to celebrate our own history.  It is sometimes, quite deliberately, presented in that way with a view to polarise and is derided as being “woke”.


“Woke”?

The detailed discussion about the meaning of that word and the weaponizing of it should be left for another occasion. Suffice to say we should not forget that until the last two years it was a positive word used within black communities to describe a person who had a good knowledge of themselves, the wider world and the injustices of society, particularly racism.  That concept is well highlighted by the rapper KRS One in his 1990 classic “Black Man in Effect”, the opening line of which is “WAKE UP! Take the pillow from your head and a put a book in it”. 

It is important because it is a song essentially about the importance of knowing the full range of black history as part of wider history and how that is something to be proud of with the inevitable self-esteem that goes with it. In other words, “stop sleeping and open your eyes (be woke) and become educated [about yourself and history]”.  As part of that if recognises the failure of the traditional education to do exactly that.  What could be remotely controversial about that?

It is a truism that knowing about history and understanding it is a key element in understanding not just ourselves but each other.  Therefore, we all understand how important it is for us to know about the kings and queens of the past, the origins and outcomes of the various wars and conflicts we have been party to and how our society came to be as it is now.  It helps inform us as to how we interact now and the potential outcomes of that interaction.  It’s a foundation of building esteem, bringing pride and creating aspiration.  It is also just interesting.  So why would we want to exclude parts of our history and community from that?

I therefore have a real apprehension about the motives of those who question its needs. Unless of course what they are advocating is black history be part of the wider history and learning every month of the year.  If that is what is meant. Sign me up!  

That apprehension is often justified when asking such people to identify one significant person in black history, who is not an entertainer or sports person or part of the (American) civil rights movement. You see, a significant part of the problem is black history is still viewed through that narrow prism of colonialism, slavery, the US civil rights movement and more recent popular culture.  Which only serves to magnify the problems, as our history (and Black British history in particular) exists outside of those stultifying constraints.  It needs to be acknowledged and celebrated lest it be forgotten.

What I am saying is not new and should not be controversial.  In the USA they have had an incarnation of BHM since the 1920s.  In the 1970s, President Ford recognised the need to “Honour the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavour throughout our history”.  This is not just an American issue, in Wales for the first time this year black history is to be taught as an integrated part of the school curriculum.  As the Minister for Education said, “It is vitally important that our education system equips our young people to understand and respect their own and each other’s histories, cultures and traditions.”  There is nothing radical in that!  It is simply right.

Embarrassingly, such an approach is still to be adopted nationally.  So, we are plainly not yet at a point where we can abandon BHM.  I tested this with one of my children who in a depressingly frank answer to their thoughts on black history month stated “Its good.  It teaches us about black people and history.  Which we don’t get to learn much about”.  A view shared by his classmates of all races.  Maybe they should be educating us about educating them.