We're several days into Black History Month, so it's time to have a little Black history.
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"Like
so many new coinages that spread throughout the culture, the whole 'woke' thing began in the African American community. It was, obviously,
a variation on 'awake,' but the term’s definition was always a bit
fuzzy. It meant being alert to social injustice and racism. It also came
to mean being knowledgeable about U.S. history and the role that
slavery, Jim Crow repression and systemic discrimination have played
over the centuries. But being woke could also mean simply being aware of
what was happening at any given moment in our politics and our culture. [snip]
"As happens with many neologisms, 'woke' peaked and waned. It served its consciousness-raising purpose and then began to fade away. These days, I never hear Black people, progressives, Democrats, LGBTQ Americans or any other constituencies of the supposed 'woke mob' use the word. I mean never.
"The
political right uses it, though — disingenuously and as a weapon.
Republicans wield it as a bludgeon against Democrats in general and
progressives in particular." -- Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post, providing his brief take on "woke/ wokeness" etymology.
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"Many who lightly toss around the word today — including people who claim to embody it, or those who wield it as a pejorative for progressives — would be surprised to learn that 'woke' originated in the deepest trenches of Black nationalism.
"Black leaders have been calling on Black people to wake up for decades. To the first users of the word, it meant recognizing racial subjugation committed by Whites. Thus a White YouTuber or a liberal congressperson cannot, by the literal definition, be woke.
"In fact, 'wokeness' was originally applied to U.S. Blacks who had been mentally conditioned into philosophical slumber by centuries of oppression, intimidation, miseducation and social frustration." -- Bijan C. Bayne, discussing the history of "woke/ wokeness," which he explains has been misappropriated and misued by people for which the term was not intended to be applied.
Both essays beg to be read in their entirety; please do so.
