Why Are White People Infatuated with “Woke?”

Why this term is so popular amongst conservatives

Raise your hand if you have heard somebody use the word “woke” in person or on social media recently?

Now did you hear it as a positive word, or a pejorative used to describe another person or a businesses’ politics that one didn’t agree with?

With the way the word is being used lately, I guarantee you it’s the latter.

So, let’s define the word “woke” and go back to its origins.

What does the word “woke” mean?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term gained popularity around 2017 and is defined as “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”

But we can go back much further to see the first time the word was used on the public stage.

On May 20, 1962, the New York Times published an article by African-American writer William Melvin Kelley, entitled, If You’re Woke, You Dig It. Fast forward to 1972 when author Barry Beckham uses the word in his play, Garvey Lives! Since then, it’s been a commonly used word in black culture.

You can see that this phrase was introduced to the world by Black Americans.

So how the hell did the word “woke” become a part of the vocabulary for older white people?

This was the absolute worst thing that could happen.

White conservatives heard the word from their politicians and decided that it would be their go-to phrase when they saw something they didn’t like.

A business wants to put a rainbow flag on their Twitter handle, “must be woke.”

An athlete makes a statement on civil rights, “must be woke.”

The military wants to instill diversity and inclusion programs, “they are now woke.”

Besides the fact that white people are misusing the word, it’s become a political talking point for the GOP. Like Critical Race Theory, “woke” is being used to rally the conservative base against a problem that doesn’t exist.

Look at these tweets from GOP politicians:

It’s still funny to hear straight, white men, get so pissed off about other groups working to have their voices heard. God forbid, marginalized groups, get equal rights as everybody else.

Now they have created other forms of the word such as “wokeism,” Woke mob, and “woketopia.”

Unfortunately, it’s time to retire this word which once had great meaning.

When we hear 60 and 70-year-old white men calling others “woke,” you know things have gone too far.

Hopefully, as time goes on, white people will find another word to steal and misuse its meaning the way they have done with “woke.”

So, the next time you hear the word “woke”, remember where it came from, and its intended meaning. The Ted Cruz and Rick Scott’s of the world want you to think “woke” is a negative term. Don’t be fooled.

They are just creating fear into their base as usual and for some reason, conservatives are buying in.

I guess this speaks to where we are with politics and society as a whole.

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