The February Ritual

Not all Black people feel the need to observe or celebrate Black History Month. That may be an unpopular statement, but it is true.

For individuals who grew up in the Caribbean, where Black heritage is not confined to a specific month but is part of the everyday cultural and historical narrative, the North American framing of Black History Month can feel limiting, performative, or even reductive. The experience of being “twice diasporized” adds another layer of complexity, as it often entails navigating identities across multiple cultures and contexts, each with its own relationship to Blackness.

For those who have achieved a level of personal or professional success, being invited to participate in February-only engagements—often as a tokenized representation of Black excellence—can indeed feel hollow. It suggests a compartmentalized appreciation of Black contributions, as though those contributions are valuable only within the confines of a single month, rather than simply woven into the fabric of society. This “ritual observation of Blackness,” can feel like a spectacle rather than a genuine engagement with the fullness of identity, achievement, and humanity.

The challenge here lies in the balance between honoring the historical roots of Black History Month—born out of a necessity to fight erasure and celebrate accomplishments—and resisting its commodification or reduction to mere symbolism. For individuals like myself, whose identity is already deeply informed by a heritage of resilience, creativity, and self-determination, this superficial approach can feel not just inadequate but offensive.

At its core, the issue is not Black History Month itself, but how it is often approached—centered on the convenience of institutions rather than the empowerment of the individuals it purports to honour. The deeper work is ensuring that Black excellence is celebrated always and that the invitation to share insights, stories, and leadership is not limited to a performative calendar slot but is a meaningful and consistent acknowledgment of the value brought to every space.

Perhaps the response to this is not disengagement but reclamation—reshaping the narrative of when, where, and how Black identity is honoured, refusing tokenization, and insisting on spaces and platforms that honour the fullness of our humanity and our stories. Blackness, after all, is not February’s ritual; it is history, culture, and legacy in motion—every day.

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