Happy Black History Month or dare I say, Happy Black Future Month!

There has been chatter on social media about renaming Black History Month to Black Future Month, thanks to a post by Kanye West proposing the latter name.

Kanye West took to Instagram, in a now deleted post, to declare February as Black Future Month by writing “February is now Black Future Month #BFM”. West first proposed the renaming of Black History Month on an episode of Revolt’s Drink Champs where he said: “I need Black Future Month. I need Black Possibility Month”.

I agree with and understand West’s sentiment on the future and how thinking about the future can inspire people and encourage people, but I disagree with the rebranding of the Month for the reasons listed below.

Reason 1: History is a conglomeration of time periods. History is not just about the past. History is about the past, present, and future. If you change Black History Month to Black Future Month, we would only be acknowledging events that have not occurred. Then I would ask, how do we teach, learn, and celebrate events that have not occurred.

Reason 2: We can learn valuable information from our history that can be useful and impactful to our future. If we stop thinking about the past, then it is easy to repeat historical events that have previously occurred. 

What are your thoughts on this topic? Let’s continue the conservation in the comment section below. 

Check out: Black History Month Then and Now