“Woke”: A Convenient Catchall for White Angst

every turn. He’s trying to turn the clock back to 1937. When DeSantis says the word “woke,” it is a smile and a wink to far-right white supremacists.

What does “woke” mean? I have never heard anyone describe it in a way that it makes sense to me. Roland Martin shared a video clip that went viral; in it, he asked a white Republican author who wrote a book on “woke culture” to define what the term means. She had what can best be described as a mental breakdown in her woeful attempt to give a definition. She failed miserably to explain something she wrote a book about.

woke ship sailed, it has been taking in much water, sinking its meaning to more profound depths of hate, separation, distrust, violence and lawlessness, pushed from the top of the Republican shit heap.

Terms such as “defund the police,” “critical race theory,” and even “Black Lives Matter” have been taken over and weaponized by the far right. MAGA supporters changed those terms into euphemisms for everything they dislike. It happens that many of the problems they place under those terms are related to Black culture. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis pushes policies that banned books written by Black Americans and somehow tie transgender issues on the tail of Black history to eliminate teaching it in schools. He reassures his supporters by proclaiming that Florida “Is where woke goes to die.”

Everyone on both sides of the aisle knows the direct translation: The progress of Black American culture, in all its forms of political power, education, art, voting rights, economic transformation, gun control, housing, and law enforcement, will be vehemently oppressed at

The term “woke” in its present meaning originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Its use in this context dates to the early 21st century, particularly within Black American communities. I checked Google’s NGram Viewer, an online search engine that charts the frequency of words and phrases, but artificial intelligence is unable to decipher which meaning woke is represented in its data banks.

The word “woke” was initially used as a past participle of “wake,” indicating a state of being aware, alert or knowledgeable, especially regarding social and political issues that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. We can see that the word itself, which is very commonly used, has undergone a massive spike in usage in the past ten years. It is without a doubt that much of that increased usage is due to the popularity of the word among politicians, political pundits, wannabe Black activists and YouTube personalities.

I was a little late to the woke party. I heard the term several times but paid little attention. Once I heard President Obama use the word, I started to pay more attention. On the surface, it seemed easy to understand when discussed in context. My initial understanding was that the term meant being alert, aware, engaged in open-minded discourse, and maybe taking action to go along with it. I was wrong. Since the

When Republicans use the term woke, it is often attached to various things white people don’t like. I’ve seen the word associated with transgender fears, abortion, voting rights, gun control, Black history, book burning, critical race theory and anything else you can throw in there. One week ago, a couple in Walmart complained that bags were no longer available because of woke culture. When I asked the couple how that was possible, the answer was, “Woke people want to save trees. So now they took away our bags.” Notice that everything the left believes affects MAGA followers personally.

There was a time when I thought of Bill Maher as a hip, white dude with whom I wouldn’t mind smoking a joint with one day. But these days, he has slowly turned into a somewhat aged, whiny old man. And I questioned his legitimacy as a so-called liberal. He’s been complaining some time now about the “woke culture,” but like most people, he has failed to describe what exactly woke means. Instead, he brought in a popular celebrity guest to define it.

Elon Musk was Maher’s guest; he spoke about how the “woke virus” was causing an apocalyptic, dark future for democracy, pushing civilization to suicide. He continued, “We have to be very causes of anything anti-Americratic. End anything that results in the suppression of free speech.”

That sentence does nothing to explain what the “woke virus” is. The first part supports the suppression of free speech, and the second part of the sentence supports free speech. So, Musk supports the burning and banning of books for un-American people by mentioning the institution of slavery. Then, on the other hand, he supports free speech to the rightwing groups, who use his platform to sprout violence and attempt to overthrow the nation. That’s not un-American?

When pressed just a little, Elon was asked when all the wokeness started. Elon stated that it had been going on for a very long time, and that the schools and universities indoctrinated students. He told a supposedly true story of an elementary student who, when asked who George Washington was, answered that he was an enslaver.

As an interviewer, I would have asked Elon the following questions: Are you saying she only knew Washington as an enslaver instead of a president? Are the schools purposely leaving out the fact that he was president? If so, what schools are they? Do we have a generation of people walking around who did not know he was the president? Is this the best single example you can give of how the woke virus is destroying America? Lastly, and most importantly, did George Washington own enslaved people?

Would it offend Musk, Maher and others like them if I add that fact into the story when I tell my Black children and grandchildren the story of America? What is wrong with teaching kids that Washington was both an enslaver and a president?

Washington was a soldier, a farmer, a husband, a father and an engineer. If we let the right dictate what should be taught, the only part of his life they would eliminate is the fact that he was an enslaver and held people against their will to work in his labor camps to profit from free labor. Should we only celebrate the parts of history that do not offend white people, and ignore the experiences of people of color?

What if an Indigenous American were to write a book about America from their culture’s perspective? That type of violent, racist, depraved true history book would not fit well with the MAGA people. It would be banned; not because it is untrue, but because of someone’s guilt trip about how they feel about themselves. American history books are being banned in favor of a whitewashed, sanitized version of history. They not only want to whitewash his- tory and lie to their own people, but also want it for the rest of us. Freedom of speech? This sounds much like Stalinist Russia to me.

Maher applauded Musk’s example instead of challenging the senseless statement from a man whose only advantage over mere mortals is that, even though he’ll eventually drop dead like everyone else (cryonics be dammed), he can send his remains into space. Maher punched Musk’s ticket and said, “That’s right, that is exactly the woke mind virus.”

This is all they got? A little girl mentioning that President George Washington enslaved humans, and the image of a nonexistent world was shattered for those who believe their grip on power is evaporating.

Last year I attended a board of education meeting for a school district in Colorado Springs. The purpose of the meeting was to reach a referendum on ensuring critical race theory would not be taught in the district. My argument was that no school in the district was teach- ing critical race theory, and to my understanding, no teacher had requested or expressed any interest in teaching it.

I explained to the crowd that they were rallying against a term they had superimposed meaning to. They call teaching about slavery in any form part of a leftist conspiracy to promote un-American values. This is what they call critical race theory, but to me it is simple: it is called American history.

All histories have warts. Pretending those warts do not exist and punishing those who want a much clearer vision of history, is not only wrong but extremely dangerous. America cannot afford to have two separate concepts and visions of history. The truth does not take sides.

We need to call things what they really are. When Republicans blame an issue on the “woke culture” or “woke virus,” ask them to define what that means. When people speak about critical race theory, ask them exactly what part of history they think should not be taught in class. Make them say it directly. We do not want them to hide behind dog whistle words and terms.

Challenge people to be explicit in their meanings. For the record, make them proclaim their racist views in public instead of hiding behind the terms associated with Black culture. Let’s put it all on the table. The earlier we confront this “woke” narrative for what it really is, the better it will be for America..