Woke

Defintion & Analysis: Being/staying woke is very temporary and only lasts as long as the most current generation stays. Society is pressured into staying woke as if they are not they are seen as weak and behind everybody else, and nobody wants that. It has contributed positively, though, as society progresses faster and the majority are on-trend. Being woke has taken on political and racial meanings, especially in the black community. Vox wrote an article on the history of “wokeness” in which they explored the origins of being woke. Apparently the idea behind this word came from the police killing of Michael Brown in Missouri in 2014. The word implied that one needs to stay “woke” and alert to the “deceptions of other people” and that it was a “basic survival tactic.” The term “woke” went as far as becoming a watchword of BLM activists, where they would use it in reference to keeping watch for police brutality. So, “wokeness” has a lot of meanings evidently. In a classroom setting, however, if someone shouted “I’m woke!” Chances are they mean they are on top of anything trending on social media, know current phrases used in Gen Z language, or know about news in our country and around the world, not that they are telling everybody in the classroom to stay alert for police brutality (or they might, who knows?). Though it’s hard to say if activists in the BLM movement still use this word regularly, it is fair to say that it is already implied that people know the term (and thus have no need to say it) since if they were not “woke,” or needed a reminder to say it, how would they know what they’re protesting for in the first place?

Works Cited

1. Romano, Aja. “A History of ‘Wokeness.’” Vox, Vox, 9 Oct. 2020, https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy.

2. “Adam Coleman | What Does It Mean To Be Woke?” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Oct. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4mSqohd2Ow. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.

3. Barrie, Krieg. “Woke.” What Does Woke Really Mean?, World, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwng.org%2Farticles%2Fwhat-does-woke-really-mean-1674277350&psig=AOvVaw0e6czv6R4XXof0FKUDD_ay&ust=1682706925636000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCPCrn_bZyv4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABBO. Accessed 30 Apr. 2023. 

Bio: Tyler is psychology major attending Sacramento City College