As the dust settled from the last presidential election cycle, many have attempted to explain America's political shift to the right. While some adopted race-neutral explanations, such as the presumption that voters were motivated solely by economic anxiety, others embraced a more provocative explanation. For example, political consultant James Carville publically blamed the party's losses on "woke era" politics. From his perspective, the Democratic party should begin to distance itself from racially progressive policies. Yet, this critique is problematic when considering the term's etymology.
When the Black American folksinger and songwriter Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, first used the phrase "stay woke" in spoken word, introducing his 1938 protest song, "Scottsboro Boys," he chose to shine a spotlight on the injustices Black people routinely endured throughout the Jim Crow era. The song tells the story of nine teenagers, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Willie Roberson, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charley Weems, and Roy Wright, who "collectively served more than a century in prison" after being falsely accused of raping two White women. Sadly, falsely accusing Black teenagers and men of crimes to justify their incarceration or lynching was commonplace.
Journalist Ida B. Wells wrote, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." Under these social conditions, where Black people were routinely harmed and killed without recourse, it makes all the sense in the world to "stay woke." It's no wonder Belly honored the story of the Scottsboro boys case by issuing a warning, "I'm gonna tell all the colored people," "Don't ya ever go to Alabama/ And try to live." The mantra, "stay woke, and keep your eyes open," which he recited, encouraged the black community to develop and maintain awareness of racial injustice. Lead Belly once shared, "I made this little song about down there." "So I advise everybody, be a little careful — best stay woke, keep their eyes open."
Since the term "woke" generally refers to an elevated state of awareness regarding racial injustices, it would stand to reason that the anti-woke movement in American political discourse is an effort to hinder conversations about race. By silencing these critical discussions they impede racial progress. In the 1619 Project, Ibram X. Kendi suggested that "inequality lives, in part, because Americans of every generation have been misled into believing that racial progress is inevitable and ongoing" and that advancement is the nation's "manifest destiny." Perceptions of racial progress are essential because those who believe that forward momentum is inevitable won't likely support efforts to alleviate racism. For instance, they will oppose pro-diversity programs if they consider them unnecessary. In that respect, their nonchalance can cause just as much political harm as those who openly endorse racist beliefs.
Even though Black Americans never founded a "woke" political party or published an official "woke platform" to be formally scrutinized, conservatives have scandalized the term and anointed themselves as uniquely qualified to determine which policies are "too woke." Despite the jargon persisting as a collective affirmation rather than a rigid set of ideas, beliefs, doctrine, policies, or laws, some associate "woke" with any progressive policy they oppose. However, when Carville claimed that the "defund the police" movement was part of "woke era" politics and created "a sense of dishonour," that tarnished the party, he left out some key facts.
For starters, despite some activists encouraging cities to decrease police funding following high-profile cases where police officers killed or seriously injured civilians, most of their efforts were unsuccessful. During the COVID-19 pandemic, police departments received more funding from the federal government, not less. Carville claimed, "the image stuck in people's minds that the Democrats wanted to defund the police, wanted to empty prisons." This assessment only further illustrates that the anti-woke movement is part of the broader white backlash following the Black Lives Matter protests, which is when most Americans first heard of this policy. When we consider the actual policies of Democrats in recent years, the critique that they're "too woke" falls apart.
Vice President Kamala Harris is a former prosecutor who, as a moderate, never supported the progressive policy of defunding police departments. Furthermore, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the closest thing we have to a legislative wishlist for those seeking criminal justice reform in this country, didn't entail defunding police at all but instead proposed implementing a series of reforms, such as changing the criminal intent standard for officers from "willful to knowing or reckless," placing limits on "qualified immunity as a defense to liability in private civil action," and granting "administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice in pattern-or-practice investigations." So, you can make the credible claim that "defund the police" was an unpopular policy proposal, particularly among White, conservative Americans. Still, you cannot argue it was ever implemented in any wide-scale sense. How, then, can someone plausibly blame "woke" politics for Democrats losing the election? Also, black communities demanding reforms to policing are not reflective of a "new era." Sixty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality."
Carville wasn't alone in his analysis. Fox analyst Juan Williams claimed the Democratic party was "too woke" to win elections following Kamala Harris' defeat to former president Donald Trump. Austin Sarat, a political scientist, claimed in The Hill that "Voters rejected a 'woke' America," arguing it's "time for Democrats to listen and learn." To justify the country's shift to the political right, some have participated in the villainization of the ideology. In doing so, they're overlooking the purpose for staying woke in the first place, that the existence of racism perpetuates the need to remain aware. While White leaders within the Democratic party could follow Carville's advice and distance themselves from any policies considered "too woke," they could risk alienating Black voters, their most loyal demographic group, based on exit polls.
His comments are a reminder that not all of the criticism comes from the right side of the political spectrum. Indeed, incoming Senate Democrat Elissa Slotkin claimed "identity politics" should "go the way of the dodo," seemingly blaming the party's emphasis on marginalized groups for their defeat. Even though the Biden administration could not muster enough political power to pass federal criminal justice reform, renew voting rights protections, or close the racial wealth gap, policies popular within the black community, the Democratic party is being accused of being "too woke." It's concerning that despite the lack of racial progress in recent years, many believe discussions about racism should come to a screeching halt.
Rather than blindly opposing "woke," more Americans should educate themselves about the roots of the terminology in the black community. They should consider that among the originators of the term, "woke" is not a negative state of being but a positive one, as it ensures someone is more equipped to confront racism. That they aren't caught off guard by wanton cruelty. Accusing Democrats of being "too woke" ultimately robs the black community of the terminology altogether, as it bestows white Americans with the authority to reframe it as they see fit. There is nothing new about Black people encouraging one another to open their eyes to the systemic nature of anti-black racism. Indeed, the term "woke" has been used for generations to promote an elevated state of awareness.
Perhaps the ire in recent years can be explained by a fear that more White people will develop an awareness of racial injustice and become allies to Black people, that they will consider themselves “woke.” To halt progress, there's a concerted effort to ostracize the term, to rebrand it as something dangerous or sinister. However, as Canadian author Jordan Peterson wrote, “To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open.”
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Dr. Allison Gaines' work on Medium.