Know Before You Invoke "Woke"

The way the word “woke” has been misappropriated and weaponized by the politically motivated infuriates me. Before you causally advance the use of this term in its present, popular context, please know that each time you do, you are offending me and many others like me.

I’ve had several conversations with friends following their use of the word “woke”, where I casually ask them to help me to understand their point by defining the word for me. After fumbling to find a definition, I usually hear something about “an overabundance of sensitivity to social issues”, or “something that is so overwhelmingly liberal and performative that it defies common sense”, or definitions of that nature.?

So what does “woke” really mean? Well, to black people, for over a century, the word has meant to be aware of the very real dangers and challenges that exist from racial prejudice and discrimination.?

I won’t go into great detail here, but to give you a sense of the word’s history, one can go back to 1938, where blues singer Lead Belly included the lyrics “stay woke” in the afterword of a song about the Scottsboro Boys, a true story of nine black boys who were falsely accused, convicted, and sentenced to death by an all white jury, of raping two white woman in Scottsboro, AL. The word was used in different forms in the African American community over the next several decades, but began a re-emergence in 2008 when Erykah Badu used “stay woke” in her track, Master Teacher.?

There is actually quite a lot of history associated with the word, and I encourage you to do a little research on your own to learn more about its origins. Suffice it to say, the word was born, raised, and the domain of the black community from its inception until present day, where it has been transformed into a pejorative term that divides and diminishes the very community it was intended to serve.

I hope you can appreciate that, given this history, witnessing a word that identified so closely with being black, get stolen from African American vernacular, and used to perpetuate the removal of many advances that black people have fought and died for, might make someone more than a little perturbed. To many, separating “woke” from “black” is simply not possible. So, when present-day headlines like “Go Woke, Go Broke”, or “Where Woke Goes to Die” are used as rallying cries for generally non-black audiences, it is easy to understand why many people of all races would find this offensive and alarming.?

I won’t comment here on the merits (or lack thereof) of the so-called “anti-woke” agenda, but I do have a point of view for why the term was chosen as the watchword for this philosophy. Why did those who believe in this agenda land on “woke” as the word that defined all the things that needed to be changed in America? After all, there was already a well established phrase (anyone remember “political correctness”?), which was so well known that just the letters “PC” were often used to define the sentiment.?

Given this country’s racial history, and the proven strategy of injecting race into issues in order to divide and create fear among the majority, I have a strong sense that the term “woke” was chosen as the tip of the “culture wars” spear, predominately?because?of its connection to the black community.

Language holds the power to shape perceptions and ideals, and to create increasingly fanatical affiliations. Nothing consistently riles up the base more than using terms that tap into the fear of those who feel slighted because of perceived accommodations given to a group whom they feel is not deserving. This isn’t the first time this play has been run by those trying to use race to divide and advance an agenda, and sadly, it won’t be the last.?

Therefore, my humble request, now that you know the real story behind the word “woke”, is that you will consider its use with full appreciation of how it makes many people feel. While I support your right to continue to advance the use of the word in ways that are different than intended for more than a century, you can no longer feign ignorance to the fact that, by doing so, you are intentionally deriding a community all too familiar with being the target of words that dehumanize, oppress and malign.?

Now you know.