Woke - A Brief History

The speaker discusses the term "woke" and its origins in African-American vernacular English, meaning being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. They talk about how the term has been appropriated by white people and used as a weapon against the Black community, including whitewashing Black history. The speaker highlights the early origins of wokeness in the early 20th century and its spread through music and activism. They mention the opposition to wokeness from right-wing political and religious figures and the weaponization of the term in relation to critical race theory. They also mention the support for wokeness from a new generation and the importance of preserving the true meaning of the term. The speaker recommends further resources for those interested in learning more about the topic. I worked on jobs, but not stealing by hand. You know, all the work I did was for the other man. But now we just have the chance to do things for ourselves, without us beating our head against the wall and working for someone else. Say it loud! Say it loud! Say it loud! Say it loud! Say it loud! Say it loud! Hello, everyone, and welcome. My name is Matty, and I'm a current student at ASU. Today, in my first attempt at creating a podcast, I would like to discuss the term woke, where it came from, and how it's being used as a weapon against the Black community, which includes whitewashing facts about Black history and the contributions of the African diaspora in the United States. Despite the fact that white people have appropriated the term after it was first coined by Black activists, the Black community upholds the term's original meaning. So what is woke? Woke is an adjective derived from the African-American vernacular English meaning alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. Though there is a lot of information that I might not be able to get to, I will highlight points of the origins of the term, how it became mainstream in the United States, the uproars of its weaponization, and who is behind the opposition. Though the battle to bring the term back to its original significance will be tough, there is a new generation of young people ready for the fight. So what's the origins of woke? The earliest known example of wokeness is a concept revolved around the idea of Black consciousness waking up to a new reality, or activist framework, and dates back to the early 20th century. In 1923, a collection of aphorisms and ideas by the Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus Garvey, including the summons Wake Up Ethiopia, Wake Up Africa, called to global Black citizens to become more socially and politically conscious. In the song Scarborough Boys, a protest song by blues musician Lee Bellis from 1938, the phrase stay woke reappeared as part of a spoken afterword a few years later. The song served as a wake up call and a cautionary tale for Black Americans who were visiting states with strong white supremacy culture. Following the success of Lee Bellis' song, the term woke started to spread throughout the American political and judicial landscape and into other musical genres from the 1960s to present. The early Black Lives Matter protest demonstrations were greatly impacted by it after that. Leaders on the right of the political and religious spectrum consequently had something to offer to their supporters that they could get behind. This is the point at which the term woke was introduced to those followers as something to be feared, and it was suggested that a declaration of war against woke was necessary to preserve their political and religious beliefs. So how did woke become mainstream? The 2014 Ferguson Uprising appeared to mark the beginning of a significant change in the lives of those who recognized themselves as being woke. Activists who supported the uprising urged people to stay angry and stay awake. Many individuals connected the mainstreaming of wokeness to the uprising of 2014 and the time when the Black Lives Matter movement had gained significant support. You can also observe a sharp rise in social media followers during this time, which contributed to the woke message becoming more widely known. Additionally, artists and activists added wokeness to their works of music and film. Due to this increase in popularity and acceptance, current and future political leaders joined the movement while others opposed it. A short time after the Black Lives Matter movement had gained significant traction, opposition to the term woke would become apparent. The same individuals who opposed the movement would also persuade white religious figures to join the fight against the alleged woke agenda. The battle the opposition started against wokeness would soon be taken over by right-wing everyday Americans who, in most cases, lacked education about the term or its definition. They were fed lies and scare tactics to start an attack on Black history, Black people in general, and other minorities. So how has woke been weaponized in Black Lives Matter? I'm just going to teach you some critical race theory and distorting the truth about racism in America and those who are enslaved by some fights that the right-wing political party and its supporters have attached the term woke. The claim right-wingers are making against CRT is that liberals, educators, and schools are indoctrinating white students to feel bad about being white for past events and that it brings too much of a concentration of racism to the classroom. Additionally, they are stating that the subject is taught to all school grades, which is factual lies. Due to this opposition, laws have been passed in some states that, among other things, prohibit the teachings of or the introduction of publications that depict how minorities, which include African Americans and African Black captives, were negatively treated throughout U.S. history. One recent decision that resulted from this opposition is also how a particular and well-known woke opponent has the state's educational board ordering teachers to teach that Black captives during the transatlantic slave trade gained skills that were advantageous to them personally. The statement and the new lesson plan are causing an uproar and are also seen as another attempt to whitewash the history of Black African captives during the trade. The statement presented by this educational board appointed by this opponent makes it sound as if captives had a choice. One major argument against these kinds of claims is that if Black captives of African diaspora were so successful in obtaining these advantageous skills, why weren't they all treated like citizens? Why were they not given citizenship? Why were the white enslavers the only ones to benefit financially and prosper? So who is behind the weaponization of woke and how does her future look like? Currently, woke is posed by more than 100 conservative businesses. These include organizations supported by the Coach Brothers, the Heritage Foundation, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and American Legislative Exchange Council, as well as Christian and Evangelical religious organizations. So what can we anticipate when woke is being met with so much opposition? Despite the threats and laws that have been created to appropriate and whitewash the term woke and the contributions and disparities of Black African captives and their African American descendants, we do have a brave new generation that is teaching themselves what woke really means and are in support of the term. In my intro, you heard Say It Loud by James Brown. This song is an anthem to the pride that Black Americans have had and will continue to carry into their future. For more information on this topic, I refer you to the journals, books, and podcasts that I gather my information from. The book was Stay Woke, A People's Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter. The journals were Understanding the Attack on CRT by Alex Molnar, Working Together to Survive and Thrive, The Struggle for Black Lives Past and Present by Herbert Rufin, and A History of Wokeness by Aja Romano. I also would direct you to listen to the podcast, Higher Learning with Ben Latham and Rachel Lindsey. Thank you.