Woke. adj: chiefly US slang : aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
In the past year, the term “woke” has come to be an ugly term by some and seems to somehow signify something terrible. However, nothing could be further from the truth. While I personally do not like the term and I find it annoying, like many things happening today, I wanted to still finally publish a new post with my views on the general sentiment behind the word.
Those on the right like to throw around the word “woke” as an evil thing. That those on the left are trying to destroy some fantasty of how they see the world. However, being “woke”, as mentioned at the top in the definition from Merriam Webster, makes clear that being woke makes one aware of and attentive to societal facts and issues particularly around racial and social justice. This implies that one who is woke is also interested in social equality. How is that anything but a good thing?
Almost twenty years ago, before I finally accepted who I was as a gay man, I was the most privileged type of person – a straight white male. I may not have come from a wealthy family, but my parents made sure my brother and I were raised well and were well rounded individuals who were able to have lots of opportunities in this world. We knew very little inequalities growing up.
Once I came out as a gay man, and especially once I started to live a more authentic life, inequality started showing up in my life. This started with losing the ability to donate blood due to discriminatory policies. It continued by experiencing physical threats and slurs hurled at me when I was with my now husband walking together in areas. It also happened with our long struggle towards finally getting married in 2013 after marriage equality was achieved at the federal level in the United States.
While I do still retain some of my previous privilege as a white male, losing the straight part, which by the way is not a choice, allowed me to see the world from a different perspective. That perspective was further expanded by having the opportunity to work with many different people of many different cultures at Purdue University, and even moreso when I moved to the Seattle, WA, USA area in 2018. So many more cultures were represented in the greater Seattle area allowing me to learn from many others about their struggles – what they’ve gone through in their background to get to the place in the life that they’re in now.
I also gained a much greater appreciation of the various ways that racial and societal issues of the past have affected some in the US even generations later. This is evidenced by much higher levels of discrimination against people of color (POC) and higher rates of scrutiny from law enforcement to these groups because of tremendous amounts of racism in the past that have ingrained huge stereotypes and such into the culture. Who can forget what happened to George Floyd and others like him, yet too many people who are not POC get away with incredible things with barely a slap on the wrist.
This doesn’t even touch on the incredibly difficult immigration issues affecting so many people in the US today. Many families are being ripped apart cruely, people who have lived here almost their entire life and who have no ties to the country that they’re “from” are being forced back to potentially life-threatening situations, and even those who I work with have to make difficult decisions about if they’re even able to go back to their native country to visit family or if they’d be able to get back into the US due to even more random and bizarre immigration process changes.
This also doesn’t touch on the difficulties faced by our transgender community who are such a small minority yet are tremendously disproportionately targeted for discrimination.
I will also never understand how those who they themselves have been the subject of discrimination are injustices then subject others to the same treatment. There are countless instances of this happening in the US alone recently.
However, I digress.
What I have gained through my wonderful interactions with so many different people, cultures, and having experienced discrimination myself, is the need to have much higher empathy for what others are going through. The vast majority of people are simply trying to live their lives, love who they love, and just be in this world. Because they want to have the same rights as what the most privileged have in this country – the straight white person – they’re seen by some as trying to take away those rights or denigrate them in some way. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Being aware of what others are going through, having even the most basic empathy towards others and striving towards a more equal society where all can enjoy the same rights and privileges as everyone else. Anything else is cruel and wrong.
This apparently makes me woke. I think that’s a great thing.
So, woke is dope.