Staying “Woke”

Staying “Woke”

 We throw the word “woke” around with impunity to the point that we question its real meaning.  Here are some definitions and background on the word “woke”.

 Wikipedia

Woke is derived from African-American Vernacular English, originally meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination".  Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans.   Over time, it became increasingly connected to left-wing matters beyond race such as gender and other marginalized identities.

By 2020, many on the political right and some in the center began using the term as a pejorative for various leftist and progressive movements and ideologies they perceived as overzealous, performative, or insincere.

 From Merriam-Webster

Woke is defined as “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” and identified as U.S. slang. It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. By the end of that same decade it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning.

 From Vox

“Woke” has evolved into a single-word summation of leftist political ideology, centered on social justice politics and critical race theory. This framing of “woke” is bipartisan: It’s used as a shorthand for political progressiveness by the left, and as a denigration of leftist culture by the right.

 Ray Gruszecki

July 28, 2023