It was in one way a standard theological examination. In my book on race and culture, A Long Long Way, I quoted my friend Vann Newkirk II, who is someone who can credibly use the word “woke.” We were doing a program onstage at Washington National Cathedral, and Vann was talking about Martin Luther King Jr.’s final Sunday sermon, delivered from the imposing Canterbury Pulpit just to our left: “To be woke is to be alert, aware and, quite possibly, informed in ways you previously were not.” Let’s push back on these negative uses of “woke” and lean into that of Brooks: To be woke is to be alert, aware and, quite possibly, informed in ways you previously were not. ( David French says these conservatives are using “woke” as a synonym for “wrong” I suspect they are also simply doing some old-fashioned racist dog whistling, since both “woke” and “mobs” are connected in the minds of many whites with scary Black people.) To be woke, then, is not about being cool or trendy or indulgent or socialist or whatever it is that these mostly white, totally uncool politicians mean to imply when they repeatedly use the term in interviews and on social media. It is to be cognizant of the rot pervading the power structures.” He did so in a way that starts to show why “wokeness” might be alarming to people at the top: “To be woke is to be radically aware and justifiably paranoid. But it makes me wonder: Why is it that whether in the schools, in corporate life or in public discourse, a whole bunch of conservative people want us to stay asleep - or to turn over and go back to sleep?Ī few years ago, another Establishment white guy, David Brooks, tried to explain the concept of wokeness in the Times. Ted Cruz use the words “woke” or “woke mobs” has a certain entertainment value, certainly. Legislators in numerous other red states are considering very similar public education measures banning the teaching of America’s racist and sexist past, while many national politicians have taken to the airwaves to promote the talking point that “woke corporations” like Coca-Cola, Dell, and Major League Baseball (who have objected to the national wave of legislation restricting voting and making it harder for working-class people and people of color) need to be reminded that Republicans drink flavored water too.
Patrick is one of an unending stream of mostly white, mostly wealthy public figures employing the word “woke” lately in press conferences and in the media. It’s a pretty consistent message about the wrongness of wokeness. Dan Patrick applauded the bills that have been passed by House and Senate, saying, “Texans reject Critical Race Theory and other so-called ‘woke’ philosophies.” The Texas Legislature is currently considering bills forbidding the teaching in public schools of Critical Race Theory or the notion that America’s founding on slavery and taking land from indigenous people might in any way complicate the greatness of our nation.
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