- WOKE
woʊk verb Past tense of wake. - 2. [adjective] Alert to the existence or presence of racial prejudice and discrimination.
- 3. [adjective] Liberal.
- [Wokeism
'woʊk.ɪz.əm noun]
I first heard the term “woke” in college in the 1980s. It had been around since the 1930s or so, but it was largely confined to the black community. I heard it ’cause I had black friends and employers. They used it to describe people who had “woken up” to problems in society which they previously didn’t know about. Namely about racism.
See, you can live a really sheltered life before you get to college. Which is somewhat understandable. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, when there was all sorts of civic unrest going on. Drug addicts in the local parks. Full-on riots, with the National Guard sent in, in the very same county. My parents didn’t want me worrying about this stuff, so they downplayed it, or made sure I saw little to none of it. I get why they did it; I approve.
The only problem I have with this behavior is when it goes on too long. And a lot of parents think it should. They’ll keep sheltering their kids well into their teenage years, arguing, “Why they’re just children.” Legally yeah; and there’s an awful lot of people who retain immature character traits well into old age. But in a very few years, your teenagers are gonna become voters. They can run for office, serve on juries, and join the military. They can become active, participating citizens, who need to know what’s going on in their world. But if they’re sheltered well into their young adult years, they’re going to have a very distorted view of the world. They’ll be horrified when they first encounter the real thing—as I witnessed many times when I went to bible college, and watched my homeschooled classmates struggle mightily when we ministered to the needy, the homeless, and the kids in juvenile hall. They weren’t at all prepared for the world Jesus calls us to minister to.
Y’see, they’d been asleep. And many of them still choose to stay asleep.
Institutional racism continues to be a problem in the United States. It’s a problem I was far too unaware of when I was a kid, ’cause I assumed—’cause I was taught—the racism problem was solved! The Voting Rights Act was passed before I was even born. Racial discrimination was illegal. I lived near military bases, and lookit all our multiethnic soldiers!—they worked together, race notwithstanding, and proved racism was abolished. (Of course I never asked how many officers were nonwhite at that time. Sheltered kids never learn which questions to ask.)
So how’d I become aware of it? I had nonwhite friends. I saw people discriminate against ’em. Sometimes—but seldom; they didn’t always think they could trust me—they told me stories of people discriminating against ’em. Mexican and Filipino and black friends getting the cops called on ’em just because some white neighbor thought, “Oh they must be in a gang.” Or hearing racial slurs from other kids in our school who moved here from predominantly white towns, and brought their racism with them. Or seeing teachers, school administrators, civic authorities, and pastors treat them with low expectations simply because they weren’t white.
I was already kinda “woke” when I got to college, so the teachers didn’t have to convince me. But man alive, were there some white students who were resistant to the idea racism still exists. “Well I never saw any of that happen in my community.” Well
White people largely hadn’t heard the term “woke” until the 2010s, when the Black Lives Matter protests started up, and the term worked its way into the mainstream. And because not everyone bothered to find out what “woke” means—same as pretty much every new word people stumble across—a number of conservatives presume “wokeism” is just another word for the left-wing agenda. It means political correctness, or identity politics, or liberalism in general; it means anything and everything they don’t like.
Thing is, there are plenty of conservatives who are entirely aware what “woke” actually means, and know it doesn’t mean identity politics, or liberalism in general. They’re entirely aware it’s about anti-racism. We know this ’cause they say so… when they’re put under oath.
Hiding the anti-racism nature of “wokeness.”
On 4 August 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended state attorney Andrew Warren because he had signed two public pledges to not prosecute abortion-related cases, nor prosecute doctors who provide “gender-affirming care” to transsexual teenagers. DeSantis wants these things prosecuted, and as governor has every right to fire state attorneys who won’t do it. Warren took him to court anyway, arguing these issues aren’t part of his job anyway, and of course free speech.
During the trial, Warren’s attorneys asked DeSantis’s aides to define “woke” for them, since DeSantis is so fond of saying Florida is a place “where woke goes to die.” DeSantis’s general counsel Ryan Newman, when asked to define “woke” generally, responded, “It would be the belief there are systemic injustices in American society, and the need to address them.”
Yeah. He knows what the word means. So does his boss. Although Newman pointed out DeSantis doesn’t believe there are legitimate systemic injustices in the United States—but still, DeSantis is fully aware “woke” refers to anti-racism, and is still okay with describing his state as a place “where woke goes to die.”
Where anti-racism goes to die.
Newman’s far from the only conservative who’s confessed to knowing what “woke” actually means. Plenty of ’em are fully aware of it. But they’re also fully aware their audience doesn’t know what it means, and think it only means “liberal,” or “the liberal agenda,” or whatever their favorite boogeymen are.
Now they could make it clear they’re actually talking about identity politics or other specific lefty issues, and avoid using the word “woke” lest it sound like they’re in fact anti-anti-racist. Or, for short, racist.
But they’ve chosen not to. Deliberately chosen not to.
’Cause they want to send out a subtle little message to all the racists. “Dogwhistling,” we call it. A message only racists will hear—that “Hey guys, I’m actually on your team. I’ve got your back. We’re good.”
DeSantis is a Harvard Law-trained lawyer. He knows how necessary it is to use precise words in both legislation and prosecution. He knows the proper definition of “woke,” and knows how it introduces a subtle racist tone to everything he says when he bashes wokeism. And he’s okay with this. He’s okay with using subtle racism to dogwhistle to the racists in his state—and, if he runs for President, he’s okay with using subtle racism to dogwhistle to all the racists in the United States. I’m not saying he’s racist; editing race out of Florida’s K–12 history curriculum kinda does that for me. But the only reason he insists on constantly bashing “wokeism” is because covets the racist vote, and he offers them a pathway to political power, so that they might perpetuate the very institutional racism he claims doesn’t believe in.
Racists, namely people who don’t hide their racism at all, likewise know what “woke” actually means. And they’re tickled pink whenever an ignorant conservative, who might not even be racist at all, starts railing against “wokeness.” Because these racists know this is gonna help them perpetuate white supremacy. These folks are doing all the work for them.
And because racism is sin,
We can’t turn a blind eye to anti-wokeness.
Christ Jesus came to this world
We can’t pretend it doesn’t exist, because we prefer the popular fiction that America is great and good and has fixed all its problems. We have to vigilantly make sure it doesn’t exist. We have to oppose anybody who tries to worm it into our systems for their convenience or profit. We need to be woke, and stay woke.
And yeah, using that word is gonna trigger those conservatives who are using the word wrong. So let me remind you I’m using the word to refer to anti-racism, and anti-white-supremacy in particular. I’m not promoting any leftist politics… unless you consider anti-racism to be “leftist” instead of righteous.
You might personally be a big fan of Ron DeSantis and his policies and activities. I’m not gonna try to convince you otherwise, today. But I am gonna remind you the man is constantly, consciously dogwhistling to racists; to people he should be fighting instead of courting. If he considers himself Christian, or
Because your duty as a Christian is clear: The kingdom is for all people.
Colossians 3.5-11 ESV - 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: ranger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is call, and in all.
“Barbarians” were white people who lived north of the Roman Empire; “Scythians” were black people who lived south of it. And just as barbarians and Scythians could gain Roman citizenship and become part of the empire, so they can also gain American citizenship and become part of this country; so they can likewise turn to Jesus and become part of God’s kingdom. Their ancestry and color don’t matter. Shouldn’t matter. It is absolutely wrong for Christians to insist it matters, to treat ’em like lower-caste humans, and deny them fairness and justice. And absolutely wrong for Christians to dismiss their cries to notice real problems in our society, and redefine their word to mean “liberal foolishness.” Jesus expects far better of us. Do better.
