In response to a Facebook post recently, a distant friend spewed several MAGA and Fox News craplings about President Biden and liberals and included the word “woke.”
I asked him what woke means to him. His response: “Small classifications of people who want their agendas heard but they have no majority. Be what you want but don’t push yourself on others. That to me is woke.”
That response is probably a definition of something, but it is not the definition of woke. But that is typical of people who follow the likes of Trump and DeSantis and their ilk.
That’s why that response touched off a boatload of comments from my fellow left-leaning Facebook friends, who are the kind of people who take the time to read and listen and study and then think for themselves. Not all of them agree with each other or with me on everything but at least they do think before they leap.
The definition of woke is really simple and can be boiled down to one word:
Awareness.
At least, that is the definition most sources listed in the Internet research I did. Being woke is being aware of injustice toward one group or another.
That can include racial injustice, a centuries-long problem in our country that shows no sign of going away. The examples here are endless and can range from racial profiling to unequal job opportunities and beyond.
That can include attempts to withhold basic rights from the LGBTQ+ community for simply being part of the LGBTQ+ community. Again, there are many examples.
That can include sexist practices, such as unequal pay for doing the same job to denying women the right to decide what to do with their own bodies.
It seems the political right takes umbrage with the term “being woke” because it challenges people to take actions to right those injustices. Conservatives don’t like to be told they aren’t doing everything they can to help those being treated unfairly. So they chastise woke people and consider them the annoying minority.
They just don’t want to open eyes that have been blinded by hate. Instead they want to ban books that teach through historical facts and/or sensitive literature the kind of injustices Blacks have faced since arriving in North America. They want to somewhat sweeten — or at least attempt to downplay — the horrors of slavery by saying stupid things like slaves didn’t have it that bad.
How can Blacks in this country ever hope to reach true equality when the anti-woke don’t want our children to know the truth, thus obscuring the truth going forward?
When will gay people see an end to discrimination when they continue to be treated as different from “normal” folk?
When will women realize they don’t have to fight for equality when Republican men still expect them to “do as they’re told” and are referred to as female dogs when they do not?
Being woke is not fascist in any way whatsoever. Nor is it racist or hateful.
Merriam-Webster, a dictionary I believe we all can trust, defines it this way: “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”
Look, I am not perfect and don’t want to come across as preachy. I’m just trying to point out that being woke is not a bad thing. In fact, we should all be woke in that all of us should be aware of injustices past and present and when possible do what we can to correct them.
Why is that a political issue? Why is that a partisan issue? Why is that an issue being argued by different religions?
Christians, wasn’t Jesus compassionate about injustice and an advocate for fair and equal treatment of all children of God? You can’t get much more woke than Him.
I’ll bet Jesus comes across that way even in the Bibles that the biggest U.S. fascist is trying to sell to raise money for his criminal defense. You know who I mean … um …
Anyway, until people wake up to woke, correcting what is wrong will take much longer. Such corrective measures don’t have to include spending money or even much time; rather, don’t say or do things that contribute to injustice or inequality and perhaps say something when you see it happening.
How hard can that be?