Topline:
Huntington Beach has reversed course and will now celebrate Black History Month and Women’s History Month after removing them from the city calendar earlier this month.
What does it mean: In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, city staff said in addition to historical themes that have already been selected for 2024 like "Black Gold Jubilee: Honoring the Discovery of Oil" in November and “The Revolutionary and Civil War” in February, the city will celebrate “additional acknowledgements and tributes.”
The additional celebrations, which include heritage months, will be determined on a quarterly basis.
Go deeper: ... read about the original decision here.
Huntington Beach has reversed course and will now celebrate Black History Month and Women’s History Month after removing them from the city calendar earlier this month.
On Dec. 19, the city council voted to adopt the new calendar with historical themes such as "Black Gold Jubilee: Honoring the Discovery of Oil" in November and “The Revolutionary and Civil War” in February, which will lead up to a Civil War reenactment in March. The agenda for the item laid out that “all monthly themes hosted by the City must be included in this approved twelve-month program and will therefore repeal and supersede all such monthly themes/celebrations previously approved by Council.”
The calendar adopted that day did not include cultural and heritage months, leading California State Sen. Dave Min, whose district includes Huntington Beach, to call the move an “assault on American Heritage celebrations.”
Then, on Friday, the city reversed course. Huntington Beach said in a statement that the calendar will also include “additional acknowledgements and tributes.”
These additional celebrations, which include heritage months, will be determined on a quarterly basis by a committee of residents with feedback from city officials.
For the first quarter of the year, Black History Month and Women’s History Month will be recognized in February and March, respectively.
Huntington Beach spokesperson Jennifer Carey said that in addition to the approved calendar, the city will also recognize federal holidays and cultural heritage months. But she did not say if the city would be celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month in May or Pride month in June, adding that the city would leave that up to the committee to decide.
In a written statement to LAist, Min applauded the city council’s decision to keep Black History Month and Women’s History Month, adding that he hopes they will "also continue to recognize other important heritage months, including Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Pride Month."
