Photo by Nicholas Swatz
The phrase “stay woke” seems to have become diluted and manipulated from the original message of being awake to the truth of reality, whether it be racial conditions or hidden political agendas.
Today, it could be argued that “woke” is a catchphrase used by some to shame people and used by others such as corporations to spread a false corporate culture and sell products.
The term became an internet meme, with searches for “woke” on Google spiking in 2015. In May 2016, MTV News identified “woke” as being among the 10 words teenagers “should know in 2016,” The Conversation reported.
Here is a look at the origin and history of the term “woke” and how the opposition acquired ownership of it as a smear.
In literal terms, being woke refers to being awake and not asleep. The Oxford dictionary expanded its definition of the word “woke” in 2017 to add it as an adjective meaning “alert to injustice in society, especially racism.”
The first use of the term “stay woke” in reference to social awareness was in the 1920s.
In a 1923 collection of writings, Jamaican philosopher and Harlem activist leader Marcus Garvey made the call, “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa” in a plea for Black people across the world to open their eyes to racial subjugation and get involved in politics, The Palm Beach Post reported.
In 1938, “stay woke” was used in a protest song by Blues legend Lead Belly called “Scottsboro Boys.” The song describes what happened in 1931 when nine Black teen boys were accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Arkansas.
In the 1942 first volume of Negro Digest, Black writer J. Saunders Redding used the term “woke” in an article about labor unions. A 1962 New York Times article was titled: “If You’re Woke You Dig It: No mickey mouse can be expected to follow today’s Negro idiom without a hip assist.” The article was by African American author William Arthur Kelley in a response that beatniks had appropriated slang from African American culture.
A beatnik is a person who participated in a social movement of the 1950s and early 1960s, and who stressed artistic self-expression and the rejection of the mores of conventional society, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
In 1965, civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. even spoke of being “woke.” During a commencement address at Oberlin College, he said, “There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution. … The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake.”
And in 2008, R&B singer Erykah Badu sang, “I stay woke” in the song “Master Teacher.”
Over the last decade, incidents of young Black Americans being killed caused an eruption in social justice and equality activism. In the summer of 2013, after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Black teenager Trayvan Martin, the hashtag #blacklivesmatter was created and urged people to “stay woke,” the Economist reported.
The phrase “stay woke” soon became a symbol of modern activism.
“Staying woke became the umbrella purpose for movements like #blacklivesmatter (fighting racism), the #MeToo movement (fighting sexism and sexual misconduct), and the #NoBanNoWall movement (fighting for immigrants and refugees),” The Conversation reported.
As the use of the word grew in the activist community there was backlash against it from the opposition, who began to use the work sarcastically and as an insult.
“WOKEISM, MULTICULTURALISM, all the -isms—they’re not who America is,” tweeted Mike Pompeo in 2019 on his last day as secretary of state. The watchword used by Black activists became a sardonic insult used by conservatives, The Economist reported.
Pompeo served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2018 and as the secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.
The enviable happened and big corporations grabbed onto the “woke” concept as a way to engage consumers– ‘buy from us because we support social justice.”
Nike’s 2018 “Dream Crazy” ad campaign starring ex-National Football League player and activist Colin Kaepernick was not only well-perceived but also won an Emmy Award. The ads featured Kaepernick, who was blackballed from the NFL for his National Anthem kneeling protests to highlight racial injustice. The ads also featured the slogan: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.”
Nike saw a boost in sales and the company’s stocks rose by 5 percent in the weeks following the ad campaign’s release, The Guardian reported.
But “woke” commercialism didn’t always work. Take the debacle of Pepsi’s woke soft drink campaign starring model Kendall Jenner. After being accused of trivializing Black Lives Matter, Pepsi quickly pulled the ad in which Jenner, who is among a group of social justice protesters, hands a can of Pepsi to one of the police officers surrounding the protesters.
According to Elle Hearns, the executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and formerly an organizer for Black Lives Matter, the ad “plays down the sacrifices people have historically taken in utilizing protests.”
“No one is finding joy from Pepsi at a protest,” she told the New York Times. “That’s just not the reality of our lives. That’s not what it looks like to take bold action.”
Celebrities also picked up on the “woke” movement. The term “stay woke” was used in Childish Gambino’s Grammy-winning hit song “Redbone.” The song wasn’t about social justice about about a cheating lover. It was also used as the opening song to Jordan Peele’s film “Get Out.”
“‘Woke’ has been weaponized to label those fighting oppression as the oppressors,” wrote Jarvis DeBerry, MSNBC opinion contributor in 2021. Conservatives, he wrote, have “strategically” changed the meaning of terms like “stay woke.”
Republicans such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have been accused of weaponizing the word. He wanted to stop “woke” businesses by limiting investment firms from basing business decisions on moral values.
“In Florida, our policies are going to be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not on the musing of woke corporations,” DeSantis said in early 2022.
Photo by Nicholas Swatz: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-man-wearing-black-crew-neck-t-shirt-2769296/
