(ThyBlackMan.com) There has been a significant change in how the term woke is perceived by those who use it!
Thanks to the good folks at Coursera; this writer recently completed a series of online courses at Rice University which led to a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I am now what conservative Republicans call the picture of “Wokedom!”
The Meaning Behind the Word
In its current form where it has been highly politicized, the OED defines the word as ‘originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice’. On the other hand, this word has been attributed the following definition in the controversial Urban Dictionary: ‘being woke means being aware… knowing what’s going on in the community (related to racism and social injustice)’.
History behind ‘Wokeness’
There is a substantial history behind how ‘woke’ came to be, primarily concerning the use of phrases and terms of sight/sleep and their connection to obtaining knowledge. The phrase “blind” to facts is commonly thrown around by people and we are frequently advised to “open our eyes”. Similarly, any rap music that seems to convey an important message is categorized as hip-hop that is ‘conscious’. Understandably, the term ‘woke’ fits within this gamut of words and phrases. However, it is African-American Vernacular English, commonly known as AAVE, that provides its grammatical quirk. The tense that it follows implies that being woke is nothing but a mental state and it heavily relies on the past. It can be interpreted as the inability to go to sleep after becoming woke. This is why, people talk about ‘being woke’ and not ‘being awake’’.
There is a long history behind the term woke with its first usage dating back to the 1800s. However, initially it merely described not remaining in sleep. However, in 1962, the term woke was first used in its current state in a New York Times Magazine glossary that claimed to list ‘phrases and words you might hear today in Harlem’. This was published with an article written by Black author William Melvin Kelley African-American street slang. He explains that the term ‘woke’ is perfectly described by OED’s ‘well-informed, up-to-date’ definition. A decade later, Garvey Lives! – a play by Barry Beckham features a character stating that he will “stay woke.” This alludes to Marcus Garvey’s work, who is a Jamaican activist leader: ‘I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon stay woke. And I’m gon’ help him wake up other black folk’.
The use of the term ‘woke’ in its current sense spans several years, but for a long time, it was only used amongst African-American communities. The year 2008 witnessed musician Erykah Badu catapult this word in the mainstream media in her song Master Teacher, where she states ‘I stay woke’. In 2009, the word witnessed its first ever #staywoke hashtag on Twitter. But for a couple of more years, people merely meant staying awake when they used this word. But gradually, this word has taken on a new meaning and ‘stay woke’ became more of a phenomenon. Its usage proclaiming awareness began with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as a series of police brutality cases against Black people. This was further accentuated by the fact that racial injustice growing at an unprecedented rate in America. It was suddenly a term that reiterated how unfair the current system is. Simply put, it transformed into a shorthand for people to shed light upon the racial injustice plaguing society and also functioned as a term pushing people to stay abreast of political happenings. In support of Russian feminist dissidents Pussy Riot, ‘stay woke’ was tweeted by Erykah herself.
Pop Culture’s Use of the Term Woke
There has, however, been a radical shift in how the term ‘woke’ is used. Firstly, people who do not hail from the highly politicized African-American neighborhoods and families began to appropriate the word and this has watered down its meaning. Today, there are hundreds of quizzes titled ‘How Woke Are You?” Adding to that, the phrase ‘woke baes’ has been tied to many popular white men wo addressed racism or sexism. Similarly, ‘woke-o-meter’ is being used to highlight celebrities that people consider woke and unsurprisingly, most of them are white.
The disconcerting trend of white people as well as primarily white media labelling other white people as woke, which has inevitably made the word’s meaning less heavy and grim. Its excessive use has also contributed toward this change. There is a common trend of white men and women from middle class believing that they are woke despite not working toward changing the system, merely since they share a few tweets seeking peace. The term woke is not enough to transform the world; there is an urgent need to actually act. In fact, change cannot be facilitated by a word that has lost all its meaning.
Moreover, there has also been a definitive shift that pushed the term ‘woke’ into the territory of comedy. In specific, people of color are using comedy as a mode to make fun of people as well as ideas that deep-dive and extensively assess topics that are not significant in any manner. For instance, the bank failure of Simivalley bank was said to be a “woke” move. There has been a barrage of ‘stay woke’ memes as well as jokes and ‘Redbone’ chorus as created and sung by Donald Glover makes use of the phrase ‘stay woke’ as awareness of being cheated upon. A very popular line of such jokes is the Twitter handle of comedian Desus Nice, wherein the hashtag is accompanied by absurd tweets discussing exaggerated conspiracies. For instance, the claim that ‘the Halloween whopper is fast-food blackface’. In addition to illuminating how wokeness functions as a topic, these are all great jokes. Despite the comedic nature, such jokes continue to discuss how things are wrong in certain ways and that there is a need to be aware. People enjoy laughing over their hyper awareness as well, since consistently being in touch with reality can take a toll on people’s mental health. Several activists garner the energy to keep going only because they can see the lighter side of serious things.
There has been a recurring concern in the UK regarding the use of slang created by African American communities, regardless of the color of the skin. The primary question is whether they can use African-American communities’ slang. Racism is rampant and yet different in these two countries and one may argue that imitating slangs from other, vastly different communities can be considered appropriation, even if your skin color is the same.
However, there is much more connecting African diaspora than the mere color of their skin. There is a constant exchange of media, culture, music, customs, and language. The constant evolution of slang could lead Black people across the globe to start using the term ‘woke’. This could, maybe, create and nourish an international community and as such, create a global phenomenon in the fight against racism and racial injustice. In order to be woke, one must think beyond themselves. They must look at the larger context of the world and see how they fit in there.
To combat racism, there is a need to identify and address its widespread nature. The term ‘woke’ is capable of doing just that, so we should all try being a little more woke. Again, this writer is proud to be “woke” and won’t mind telling Ron DeSantis; I am sure my Christian values will confirm…Woke is where good folks come to LIVE!
Staff Writer; Stanley G. Buford
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