Black History Month should not become 'Racism History Month', says equalities minister

Black History Month should not become "Racism History Month", the Government’s equalities minister has said, as she warned companies against holding "contrived" events to commemorate it.

Kemi Badenoch, who holds the equalities brief alongside her role as a junior minister at the housing ministry, said she supported the study of black history but cautioned against it becoming a political event.

"What I'm seeing is there's politicisation happening in every sphere and I see it happening even there, where Black History Month becomes Racism History Month, which isn't what it should be," she told Sky News.

"It should be a time for us to come together and look at contributions which haven't always been taught because they might be seen as very niche or they're just not traditionally what people thought should be in the curriculum."

Asked what she did and did not like about Black History Month, Ms Badenoch said: "I'm really pleased that people are thinking more about black contributions to British history, so I have liked that.

"What I haven't liked are, maybe perhaps, interventions that seem more contrived perhaps because certain organisations feel that this is something they need to do, so they do it, but not necessarily... in a way that I think is meaningful or shows that they are interested in it."

'American import'

The minister added that the annual Black History Month was an "American import" that did not sit well with the study of British history.

"To be honest, I think Black History Month has become much bigger than it used to be because a lot of people are doing different things with it," she said.

"It's an American import, which hasn't always fitted exactly with what I would call British and Commonwealth history."

Ms Badenoch is one of the Government’s most outspoken opponents of "critical race theory", an academic approach to race relations and the law developed in America in response to institutional racism towards ethnic minorities.

She has previously caused controversy by suggesting that opponents of racism should not use the phrase "white privilege" because it "reinforces the notion that everyone and everything around ethnic minorities is racist" and creates a less "cohesive society".