Deconstructing Contemporary Wokeism

Credit: Connecticut Humanities (CTH), connecticuthistory.org

Traditionally, a person becomes woke after they have been awakened. Figuratively speaking, when you are asleep you dwell and wander about in the subconscious world. After you have awakened, or woken, you transition from subconsciousness to consciousness and become aware and attentive to the realities of the world in which we live. In the sociopolitical sense, a person who is woke is aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). (Merriam-Webster)

The first instance of awake (woke) being used in a sociopolitical sense can be traced to the 19^th Century Wide Awakes. Formed by five store clerks as a paramilitary Republican political club on March 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut, the organization appealed to White men in their teens, twenties, and thirties, attracting ambitious upstarts sporting youthful goatees who were “beginning to feel their true power.” Using popular social events, an ethos of competitive fraternity, and even promotional comic books, the Wide Awakes introduced many to political participation and proclaimed themselves the newfound voice of younger voters.[i] After attending Abraham Lincoln’s March 5, 1860, speech in which he put forward an anti-slavery and right of workers to strike platform,[ii] the club threw its support behind Lincoln’s presidential election campaign. By the middle of 1860, the Wide Awakes boasted chapters in every county of the northern (free) states and were the preeminent political force rallying and bolstering support for the fledgling Republican Party. On the day of Lincoln’s election as president, the Wide Awakes had an estimated membership[iii] of up to 500,000 across the northern states and remained active for decades after that. The club’s moto was Free Speech, Free Soil, Free Men. The all-seeing eye or open eye on the club’s banner and membership certificates symbolized awareness of the turbulent political and unjust social issues of the era. Historians credit the Wide Awakes’ paramilitary mannerisms, anti-slavery platform, and its wide support across northern states as a significant contributing factor in the events leading up to the Civil War.

The first instance of woke being used in a sociopolitical sense is attributed to Black American folk singer-songwriter Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) in the 1938 recording of his song Scottsboro Boys, which tells the story of nine black teenagers and young men falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. In the closing comments following the recording, Lead Belly says he met with the defendants’ lawyer and the young men themselves, and I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there (Scottsboro) – best stay woke, keep their eyes open.[iv] From 1938 through the early 21^st Century, woke went through various iterations from staying aware of infidelity, awareness, self-consciousness, not passing out, to its original context of staying aware of social injustice.

In 2014, Stay Woke became the central theme of the Black Lives Matter movement that rose up following the killing of Michael Brown by law enforcement in Ferguson, MO.[v] The 2016 Black Entertainment Television documentary, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement, details the events that led to the rise of the movement, and the need for continued awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. Woke and staying woke have since evolved into an all-encompassing social metaphor to include all social identities in the overbroad context of critical theory and the anti-capitalism spectrum.

It is not that being woke and aware of social injustice is a bad thing. To the contrary, it is just as noble a value today as it was with the Wide Awakes in the 1860s. What is neither noble nor honorable is the wokerati of academia, the media, and politicians, who use wokeism as a crux to vilify traditional values, disregard indisputable facts, silence speech, and tear society apart at the seams. Under its current constructs, only those who accept woke progressive ideology and all of its extremes are allowed to speak to or debate sensitive social issues. Words are violence. To say anything contrary to accepted woke beliefs is viewed as hate speech or violence. To stay silent is violence. Actual discriminatory behavior or acts of physical violence may or may not be considered discriminatory behavior or violence, depending on whom the perpetrator(s) or victim(s) may be.

As with the 19^th Century Wide Awakes, this new warped version of wokeism has become the newfound voice of younger voters. Contemporary critical pedagogy strives to awaken critical consciousness in students in order to breakdown perceived White supremacist institutions of government and usher in a new world order. Critical pedagogy strives to:

Create space in the American Educational Research Association … passed liberalism and more radical education … a place in education where critical perspective dealing with issues around class, gender and what have you … around social justice and ecological awareness … A new level of understanding and adventure … [to] develop complex issues in the community around race. … To think about how we do a new social order. Envisioning a different reality … a one earth community … [critical pedagogy envisions a] transformation of consciousness and institutions. When we’re talking about critical pedagogy, we’re talking about transformative critical studies … for high schools … for elementary schools … Critical pedagogy must have connections to real educational happenings … working in elementary schools [and high schools] talking about a transformative consciousness and different kinds of stuff. Oppression and social justice concerns have to be at the foundation of education itself.[vi]

In line with socialist and communist ideological goals, critical pedagogy strives to foster a [belief] that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realization of a socialist society.[vii]

Contemporary wokeism is nothing more than another tool for perpetuation of the Trotskyist permanent revolution to divide the classes and bring about a new socialist world order. Nothing more, nothing less.

Recommended Citation: ©Crow Jr., Art (2024), Deconstructing Contemporary Wokeism, https://withmaliceaforethought.com/deconstructing-contemporary-wokeism/

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