Florida Governor Ron DeSantis garnered media attention with a strange statement in late August. At a Republican Party gathering in his US state, he declared, "Florida is the state where 'woke' goes to die." He was celebrating a number of conservative victories in school board elections.
Given the governor's recent policies, which include opposition to anti-COVID measures like immunizations and masking, DeSantis's Florida is undoubtedly a top choice for anyone seeking death. However, this assertion is more than just a catchy sound bite. Instead, it is a deliberate misrepresentation of "woke" activism's reality and history, as well as a criticism of both the proponents of wokeness and the ideas of justice and equality.In African American Vernacular English, the concept of being "woke"—awakening to a fresh understanding of the world, in particular the oppressions around us—has a long history. Black musicians have been using the word for for a century, starting with the 1930s blues singer Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter and continuing through contemporary hip-hop and neo-soul performers like Childish Gambino and Erykah Badu. Before being adopted, or coopted, by non-Black activists in real life and on social media, the term's more openly political overtones were made popular by the Black Lives Matter movement during campaigns in locations like Ferguson, Missouri.
Around this period in the 2010s, "anti-wokeness" started to gain popularity. At initially, the greatest criticism came from both the left and the right against those who were performing or acting serious "woke" rhetoric. But over the last few years, conservatives in particular have attacked the basic idea of "wokeness."The loudest "anti-woke" voices in America are Fox News host Tucker Carlson and politicians like Ron DeSantis, who built his political reputation by engaging in continuing cultural conflicts that he helped to create. However, they are by no means the only ones. Right-wing supporters have spent the past several years portraying wokeness as a radical, destructive worldview. These supporters include politicians, commentators, and even social media trolls.
According to the GOP and the right media, "woke" philosophy is linked to a range of mainly fabricated societal issues, making it the most deadly threat facing America today—rather than COVID-19, racism, violence, or injustice. Some criticize wokeness as a new (fake) religion and even claim that it is being utilized to discredit more established religious doctrines. Others have denounced "woke racism," a vague accusation that implies we are taking the idea of combating racism too seriously and may even be engaged in reverse racism as a result.The United States and its founders are portrayed negatively in "Woke History," which is criticised for eroding patriotism. With accusations that film studios like Marvel are prioritizing wokeness – here defined as "forced" diversity – over telling serious stories about flying people punching robots and aliens, even superhero movies and shows are now coming under fire for increasingly casting actors who are not white men in leading roles.
The actual issues of wokeness—recognizing racist violence, eliminating bias, and promoting equality—have been obscured by all of these charges. The language deception that has been used to attack wokeness is not brand-new. Conservatives' rhetorical ploys have been used to attack a wide range of ideologies and people.The right has redefined and demonized a wide range of terms and concepts, from specific movements like "Black Lives Matter" to more generic ideas like "social justice" or "equity." We simply need to look at a generation of white moderates who support equal rights but object to the label "feminist" to realize how effective these strategies may be.
However, Black activists have long been the targets of this reinterpretation, thus it is understandable that ideas like wokeness, which had their roots in Black activism, have come under the most vehement criticism. Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, and authors and academics like Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Ibram X Kendi have all been subjected to this approach recently.This distortion has also been applied to non-verbal protest methods. Years after he started kneeling during the singing of the national anthem at NFL games, American football player Colin Kaepernick is still on the National Football League's blacklist. His demonstration was in support of speaking out against anti-Black oppression and police brutality, which was made abundantly apparent to anyone who cared to listen.Kaepernick's respectful protest, however, had been turned into a hate-filled tirade against veterans and the American flag by the time Fox News and the Trump administration had finished offering their opinions on the subject. Of course, these allegations are untrue, but it hasn't stopped a sizable portion of Americans from continuing to think the quarterback is seeking to assault the nation's most revered institutions and symbols.
Such defamation has actual repercussions. While athletes with less skill and more serious, even criminal, infractions continue to play, Kaepernick has been forced to watch from home. And questions about patriotism and appropriate modes of protest continue to obscure the important conversations that could have been started about anti-Black violence.The point, of course, is these results. By generating battles over terminology, modern American conservatism is highly skilled at diverting attention away from serious reform discussions. The right has generally been involved in language policing, despite all the critiques leveled at the left for enforcing "political correctness" (complaints that have just been repackaged to attack "wokeness").
Anti-wokeness is the most recent incarnation of a larger disinformation effort against progressivism that is surprisingly well-planned and effective. The first stage in delegitimizing an idea was to redefine it, compare it to its most extreme expressions, or just make up a meaning that isn't accurate. Thus, rather than making sincere efforts to fight prejudice or promote inclusivity in society, wokeness devolved into leftist hysteria over pronouns or attempts to recast superheroes as non-white guys.The second stage was to mock and demonize those who support this terminology by using this manufactured indignation. As a result, the right has disparaged individuals like Hannah-Jones, Coates, and Kendi as "ultra-left" or "race hustlers".Now, individuals like DeSantis have achieved success at the third stage of the process, establishing legislation that actually make progressive conversations unlawful, such as the (perhaps unconstitutional) Stop WOKE Act that he successfully pushed through the Florida legislature. These regulations are already having a significant silencing effect on people, including educators and librarians, across the Republican-controlled regions of the country by weakening the actual definitions of ideas, such as critical race theory.
Therefore, allowing the right to influence the discussion around wokeness has effects that go far beyond semantics. Conceding the "wokeness" issue is having real, repressive effects on people all around the nation.And because of this, it's crucial to avoid dismissing words like "awake" (or "feminist" or "Black Lives Matter") as incorrect or tarnished. Words have meaning, and having control over those meanings gives you a lot of power. Those who wish to halt progress in our nation increasingly effective strategy is to use that language power.
Hold onto and protect concepts like "wokeness," which stand for much-needed improvement in this society, in order to stop such backward policies from gaining even more sway. And in order to defend these ideas, we must comprehend the full ramifications of conservative criticisms of them.
Even when there are attacks on the idea of being awake itself, we must remain vigilant.
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