Woke: Does it Mean What You Think It Means?
DeSantis’ general counsel, Ryan Newman, defined “woke” as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.” Newman and DeSantis describe themselves as “anti-woke” because they believe that there are no systemic injustices. Even so, I got to admit that’s a pretty good definition. Giving the devil his due.
Woke is a word from the Black community. Its been around since the 1940’s or even earlier. From the beginning, it meant pretty much what Newman said, as applied to Black people’s experiences in the USA. In that context, woke is a good thing. Then the term got extended to other marginalized peoples, again meaning pretty much what Newman said, and still a good thing.
However, some people feel that, since the word originated in the Black community and originally meant awareness of systemic injustices as Black people experience them — no other marginalized people should use that word because the Black experience is unique. And they have a point. Once the word got outside of the Black community, the opposition began using it as a slur.
The opposition says “woke” to refer to the idea that marginalized peoples deserve the same human rights and dignity as white cis het christian males do.
As if there were something wrong with that.
I agree, it’s tough sometimes to make sense of changing social norms that emerge as we strive to create a more caring and just society. And there are some clumsy excesses on the Left as we navigate these changes. However, these blunders are not “woke.” They are simply mistakes, as humans often make. And mistakes are opportunities to learn — if we take time to think about them, rather than dismiss them with a slur.
At this time, the Right seems to have appointed gender non-conforming folks as the scapegoat du jour. I guess they consider these a safer target, since charges of racism can get a person fired these days. So they’re using “woke” as a slur to describe drag performances, gender affirmation treatments, Disney, or anything else that suggests that gender-nonconforming folks deserve the same human rights and dignity as anyone else. However, this can change. Environmental concerns over drilling, mining, pollution, single-use plastics, etc, are also dismissed as “woke.” Concerns about Native sovereignty: “woke.” Likewise, concerns about access and disability rights. Not so long ago, “woke” was used as a put-down for public health measures such as masks and vaccines. Next year it might be applied to something else that challenges the status quo. It’s the old playbook — call something a bad name and then you don’t have to think about it.
It’s bad enough when the opposition dismisses us with terms such as “the woke mob” — but now I see left-leaning moderates doing the same.
There’s fresh crop of “anti-woke” articles here on Medium, supposedly coming from the Left, using “woke” to describe excesses from our side of the aisle. That is, they're using “woke” as the opposition uses it rather than as Black people originally mean it. For example, I recently read an article here about art professor Erika López Prater who was fired from Hamline University for showing a painting of Mohammed (PBUH) in violation of Islamic law and custom. The article said that “wokeness” had gone too far. I say, maybe something did go too far but it wasn’t “wokeness.” At the end of the article were links to similar articles, all supposedly self-criticizing our excesses with clickbait titles using “woke” as a slur.
I do not respond to articles like this, because I don’t want to amplify this misappropriation of AAVE. Every clap, every response, even in disagreement, boosts them in the algorithm and puts money in their pockets. I don’t want to feed into the idea that awareness is a bad thing, and it’s better to be asleep. It’s bad enough when the Right dismisses those of us who strive for a just society as as “the woke mob” and brushes off our concerns as “woke-ism.” But when we start criticizing our own excesses by adopting the opposition’s misappropriation of a perfectly good word from the Black community, who benefits?
If woke means aware of systemic injustices and the need to address them, then, as long as these injustices continue, there is no such thing as going too far. Occasional aberrations such as Prater’s blunder and subsequent job loss should not be used as a distraction to minimize the real struggles to address real injustices.
Do you agree that there are systemic injustices in USA society that need to be addressed? I do, and most readers here probably do. So let’s stop mis-using “woke” like the opposition does, and let’s stop supporting those who do. Instead, let’s give proper respect to the Black community and their word, and use it in its true meaning. Or better yet, if you’re not Black, don’t use it at all.
Readers: Have you ever heard “woke” used as a slur? What happened? What do you think / feel about it?
