The pro-democracy coalition and mutual respect moving forward
Right-wing propagandists usurping of "woke"
In yesterday’s Guardian opinion piece “The left’s best defense against Trump? Ditching limousine liberalism” by Dustin Guastella, he uses the term “woke” in the disparaging way Trumpists have defined it. He writes,
“Today, working-class voters – as defined by income (less than $100k a year), occupation (manual work and service work) or education (less than a college education) – are more likely to vote for Republican candidates than for Democrats. Professionals, meanwhile, have successfully gentrified the Democratic party. Worse, the folkways, mannerisms, and tastes of salaried high-income professionals have come to define the party, and now serve as a powerful repellent for working-class voters. Indeed, not only has the embrace of the knowledge class led to the economic neglect of the working class but the aggressive advocacy of professional class cultural values has played a major role in pushing working-class voters away. Simply put, progressive elites have remade the party to reflect the cultural and aesthetic preferences of blue-blooded liberals, and then made these preferences the priority. Ironically, some highly educated Democrats now embody the definition of “conservative” in their defense of these “woke” priorities: they defend the status of the affluent and the educated, the stand for the preservation of a profoundly powerful elite.”
While I’m not arguing as to the out of touch nature of some in the Democratic party leadership, I do think this language has been weaponized as a slur by Republicans and is very much ignoring the history and context of the word “woke”. I am not a Black American, but as Latina who is 100% committed to allyship with Black Americans, this word has a profound history in the Black culture and history and it is offensive when Republicans use it in this flippant and glib manner, and I’m asking those on the left to not follow their example.
Gerren Keith Gaynor writes in theGrio, “For years, the term ‘woke’ has been a target of Republican lawmakers in their attempts to criticize and dismantle laws and programs related to racial justice or diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“Woke is deeply connected and rooted to Black history and our fight for social, racial, and economic justice…Let’s be clear: MAGA extremists aren’t misunderstanding this word, they are intentionally weaponizing it against us. There is a 400-year history of language being used to divide and conquer our people.” ~U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee
I don't think that class solidarity needs to come at the expense of racial and gender solidarity. My point in stating this, is that this use of the term “woke" in this almost derogatory manner has been completely taken out of its original context like so much culture in this country that has been appropriated from Black Americans by non-Black Americans. We can’t change the narrative amongst the right wing, but let us in our coalition learn to respect each other’s histories and cultures.
Resources
Rep. Barbara Lee schools Republicans about what ‘woke’ means with resolution
Education-Level Voting Gaps Are Highest Among Men, White People
Trump gained some minority voters, but the GOP is hardly a multiracial coalition
“Speaking to systemic racism, speaking to capitalism in its current form- all of these structures… It's like this invisible highway of root structures underneath the United States, and from the bottom of the Earth comes this earthquake that’s kind of shaking those roots and creating new pathways for things to grow.” ~Musician Anne Harris