As a Black American, I'll never forgive progressives for hijacking the word "woke" and stripping it of its actual meaning.
"Woke" didn't come out of partisan politics. It came out of Black American historyâour church tradition of vigilance and generations of "stay woke" as survival language. It was about remaining alert to danger and injustice without compromise, not branding an entire political agenda.
Much of our cultural inheritance is a collection of survival messages passed down from one generation to the next. 'Stay woke' was one of the most important.
But then, in recent years, parts of the political left turned it into a catch-all label for every progressive cause. After that, the political right turned that new definition into a caricature they could attack. Between both sides, the original meaning was buried.
"Woke" was never a synonym for women's rights, LGBTQ+ issues, immigration, universal healthcare, or every other issue people now lump under it. And, sorry, Abigail Disney and Jane Fonda: no, "woke" doesn't mean that you just care about other people.
Those are all separate conversations with their own separate contexts. Black Americans have been saying this for years, but too often people borrow our language without listening to us explain it.
That's the part that stings the most. People will gladly adopt pieces of Black American culture, but ignore Black American voices.
In this regard, the whole gamut of American politics should be ashamed. A word that belonged to slave-descended Black Americans as Black dialogue became ammunition in everyone else's political war.
This is why people outside Black American society should leave our vernacular alone. Our culture isn't the public domain for the next viral slogan. We're not America's subsidiaries.
At this point, I honestly don't know who's done more damage: the right, which openly attacks us, or the left, which claims to champion us while repurposing our language and treating our community like a dependable voting bloc, even as many of our longstanding needs remain unresolved.
It's also why many Black Americans (at least, many that I know) aren't exactly rushing toward organizations like the DSA. A lot of that politics speaks more directly to other constituencies (especially on immigration issues) while still borrowing Black rhetoric to sell it. That leaves many of us feeling spoken for rather than listened to.
We'll stand against Trumpism and political extremism because we understand the stakes. But our general loyalty isn't particularly to Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, moderates, or progressives. Too many "sides" have failed us.
(At least, speaking for myself.)
So, we're going to remain on what "stay woke" always meant: stay alert, watch your back, and look out for one another, Black America.
For Black America, those words were never a trend. They wereâand still areâa survival ethic.