Axios Explains: "Woke" and the backlash to the term

[Dennis Donovan]

Axios - Axios Explains: "Woke" and the backlash to the term

Delano Massey
Russell Contreras
1 hour ago -
Politics & Policy



President-elect Trump has picked Cabinet members who vowed to remove "woke" influences from the federal government. They aim to fight against everything from DEI mandates and transgender rights to school curriculum choices.

Why it matters: "Woke" exploded into the American vernacular after the murder of George Floyd, and has been used to describe an awareness of other cultures and social inequities. But it's also been weaponized by conservatives, who have redefined the term as a threat to traditional values and cultural/racial norms in the U.S.

-Beyond Washington, the redefinition also has fueled the far-reaching fight against racial diversity policies in academia and corporate America.

State of play: Conservatives now slap "woke" on countless views they find offensive. Attacks on transgender rights helped some conservatives win elections, and now President-elect Trump is declaring war on "woke" — from Pentagon hiring to college admission policies to health issues.

-Progressives worry this anti-woke momentum threatens gains made over the six decades since the Civil Rights Movement.

But now, even some Democrats are using the term in post-election critiques of their party's left wing.

"When the woke police come at you," Rahm Emanuel, President Biden's ambassador to Japan, told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, "you don't even get your Miranda rights read to you."

/snip

When I think someone is "woke," I think of them as being kind and respectful to others regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation.

[BoRaGard]

1. Yeah, right. All voters need to do is to keep on sleeping.

[maxrandb]

2. "How We Helped Turn Empathy, Compassion and Respect into a Negative" -Axios

Fixed the headline for you.

Another headline could be; "Racists and Rapists Have Feelings Too"

[oasis]

3. +I,000,000

[Lonestarblue]

4. Woke is the antithesis of Jim Crow. Voters chose Jim Crow.

[Walleye]

5. They are not protecting traditional values, they are persecuting , vulnerable people.

[intheflow]

6. Fuck you, Maureen Dowd.

Miranda rights don’t even exist anymore, Idiot. Which was brought to you by anti woke crowd you fawn over. Go eat a pot brownie and die.