Evolving Folks Project

The word “woke” has undergone a fascinating and contentious transformation. Initially, Black communities used the term “woke” to signify awareness of racial injustice, and leftists advocating for social justice later embraced it. Nowadays, conservatives and neoliberals have appropriated “woke” to delegitimize progressive notions.

The word has its roots in Black Activism. “Woke” emerged in the 1930s among African Americans as a call to be vigilant against racism. Phrases like “stay woke” encouraged critical thinking about social realities.

The idea of wokeness traces back to the early 20th century, centering on Black consciousness and imagining a new social reality where black people enjoyed political equality. In 1923, a collection of aphorisms and ideas by the Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus Garvey, “Wake up, Ethophia, Wake up Africa!” It was a call to Black citizens worldwide to increase their social and political awareness in the 1920s. This term gained significance during the Civil Rights Movement and became more widely recognized in the early 21st century.

Thanks, Obama!

“If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because ‘Man, did you see how woke I was? I called you out!’” – Former Pres. Barack Obama 

The former president stated this back in the fall of 2019 and claimed that people online aren’t doing activism. Funny enough, during his presidency, he referred to actual Black Lives Matter activists as “thugs.” The former neoliberal president opened the floodgates for both neoliberals and conservatives who hope to maintain the shitty status quo to use ‘woke’ in a pejorative way. 

Perhaps President Obama didn’t want those people online and in real life to question his presidential legacy. During his tenure, black economy power dipped drastically, the Black Lives Matter movement against police murder and brutality began, the Occupy Wall Movement took root, he extended the Bush Corporate Bailouts of the Great Recession, failed to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his administration extended drone warfare in both the Middle East and Africa resulting in the deaths of countless civilians. Despite being a black man himself, Obama did the bidding of the U.S. empire. 

It’s probably why he hates those pesky so-called ‘woke’ folks online who rightfully so question his accomplishments as president. It hinders his credibility as a ‘so-called’ progressive president. Still, no progressive looks to model themselves after the heinous President Ronald Reagan. Obama’s legacy is many things, but the only thing progressive about the man’s presidency was that he was far darker than anyone in the office of POTUS before him. 

The “White” Liberal community’s embrace of “wokeness” was because of their dedication to social justice movements. During the 2010s, the term “woke” moved beyond racial issues and became connected to broader movements for social justice. Liberals, progressives, and socialists promoted it to support LGBTQ+ rights, environmentalism, and economic equality. Woke showed a commitment to advancing progressive ideals.

While Black communities initially used “woke” as a watchword, they attributed three primary meanings to it in the 20th century: 1) slang for being awake. 2) Slang describes suspicion of infidelity in a romantic relationship. 3) The initial, politically charged intention of always being vigilant for systemic injustice.

However, the former president gave the green light to neoliberals and conservatives who opposed progressive politics, a word they could use to undermine radical political individuals or any leftist critiques of the U.S. political system. 

We also note that in the United States, anyone who believes that college and trade schools should be free and paid for by tax dollars, all citizens should have universal healthcare, all people deserve housing, every worker should be entitled to a living wage, combating climate change, there is a fair path to citizenship, and taxing the rich. All these ideas are considered radically political by both neoliberal and conservative-minded people. Hell, they’ll despairingly call you ‘woke’ if you mention the failures of both political parties to enact any actual progressive policies to uplift everyday people over the past 40-plus years. 

Conversely, it’s considered pragmatic to bail out banks and the wealthy and fund endless wars with taxpayer money. You might have potholes on your city street, and your kid’s schools can’t afford a physical education teacher. Still, Israel has plenty of bombs to drop on civilians in Gaza thanks to U.S. funding their war machine. But maybe I’m being too ‘woke’ here in this article. 

Conservative Counteroffensive: Woke as a Slur and the Weaponization of Woke

Conservatives saw an opportunity in the 2010s. They began using “woke” pejoratively, often distorting its meaning. It transformed from signifying awareness to implying excessive political correctness, hypersensitivity, and even intolerance. Frequently, thanks to conservative people, they can regard any progressive idea has being as “woke.” Even billionaire asshole and ruiner of Twitter Elon Musk often tweets about the “Woke Mob Hivemind” coming after him, despite his personal wealth skyrocketing during the pandemic. I guess ‘wokeness’ is really hurting Elon, not! 

Conservatives will claim a TV show that has one too many black, Latino, Asian, or queer characters, then say the show is “woke.” To them, to be woke is to police the social behaviors of conservatives and neoliberals. People who use woke as a slur claim that it means specific individuals are overly sensitive and should not be obligated to always be politically correct. This is not true. People are no longer letting assholes get away with being assholes. Just because white people can’t say the N-word without getting these hands doesn’t mean that black people are too woke. 

Conservatives and neoliberals like Obama aimed to delegitimize social justice movements and portray leftists as disconnected from mainstream values by demonizing “wokeness.” The term became a rallying cry to dismiss progressive policies without genuine debate. The right-wing uses ‘woke’ as a dog whistle as a key ingredient of alleged ‘cancel culture.’ God forbid we hold those with power who abuse their power or use their privileged positions to punch down on those less fortunate accountable for their deeds and actions. But sorry, conservatives, no one has canceled anyone. 

People have held the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, and Diddy accountable. Even post-MeToo, influential people can get away with terrible things. The cancellations of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Fred Hampton resulted from their assassinations. Getting shot and killed is indeed being canceled, but not according to crybaby neoliberals and conservatives. A celebrity or political leader getting dragged on Twitter and Threads isn’t being canceled. Activists calling out Faux News or MSDNC media propaganda in its news coverage of the ongoing genocide in Palestine aren’t those organizations getting canceled. It’s called holding those with power accountable.

Before, they used “woke’ as a slur. In the earlier 2010s conservatives, they coined the term “social justice warrior“, but I thought the phrase had too many words to catch on. It did not. Many decent people didn’t have a problem with social justice in a world filled with so much injustice. Thus, ‘woke’ became the new rallying cry of the right-wing and their neoliberal allies to dismiss any calls for progressive change. 

There have been consequences of co-opting the word woke. The weaponization of “woke” has dire consequences in these times of uncertainty. It trivializes the genuine concerns of those fighting for social justice. Productive discourse becomes challenging due to the climate of division it creates. With the United States moving towards fascism, the teaching of non-whitewashed U.S. history being under attack, women’s and LGBTQ rights being stripped away, wealth inequality running rampant, and the looming threat of Climate Change, it is crucial for people to wake up now.  

The future of Wokeness?

The future of “woke” is uncertain. What will it become”? Will it become a meaningless slur, or can its original advocates reclaim it? A more productive approach would be to focus on the issues, using clear and respectful language to encourage genuine dialogue between people and communities. Unfortunately, black people’s language can be co-opted and used against our communities that remain under attack due to 500 years of white supremacy and imperialism.

Black people and our allies can still reclaim this word that the right-wing and neoliberal assholes have used as a slur. Many subcultures have reclaimed words used to put down their group to flip it as a word of empowerment. Black folks took the horrible racial slur “nigger” and turned it to “nigga”, Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished (And yes, white folks still can’t say that word). Now is not the time to fall asleep, my black people; even if they try to co-opt our word, we gotta ‘stay woke.”