I don’t understand how “woke” became such a source of evil. Used as an adjective to describe “someone who is aware of important social issues, especially those related to racial and social justice,” to me it describes an enlightened individual seeking to be a better person and seeking to improve the lives of others. I wrote in 2024 that with the approach of the election that the term will be used as being akin to devil-worship.1 Well, after the president’s speech this week, I was right.
I refuse to accept that characterization and seriously question those that accept anti-woke rhetoric because of political motivation. Being woke does not promote hate as some contend. Quite the contrary. It seeks understanding and inclusion, acknowledging history and working to learn from it for a better future.
Let’s look at an historical example. Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote a recent article about Bloody Sunday in Selma AL in March 1965.2 To understand what happened, some history is relevant. (Quotes from Richardson’s article are in italics.)
Black Americans outnumbered white Americans among the 29,500 people who lived in Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s, but the city’s voting rolls were 99% white. So in 1963, Black organizers in the Dallas County Voters League launched a drive to get Black voters in Selma registered. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a prominent civil rights organization, joined them. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, but the measure did not adequately address the problem of voter suppression. In Selma a judge had stopped the voter registration protests by issuing an injunction prohibiting public gatherings of more than two people.
King and other prominent members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference arrived in January [1965] to push the voter registration drive. For seven weeks, Black residents tried to register to vote. County Sheriff James Clark arrested almost 2,000 of them on a variety of charges, including contempt of court and parading without a permit. A federal court ordered Clark not to interfere with orderly registration, so he forced Black applicants to stand in line for hours before taking a “literacy” test. Not a single person passed.
On March 7, 1965, sixty years ago, the marchers set out. As they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a Confederate brigadier general, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, and U.S. senator who stood against Black rights, state troopers and other law enforcement officers met the unarmed marchers with billy clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. They fractured John Lewis’s skull and beat Amelia Boynton unconscious. A newspaper photograph of the 54-year-old Boynton, seemingly dead in the arms of another marcher, illustrated the depravity of those determined to stop Black voting.
So, anti-woke folks want us to ignore history. They say that studying such history purposely is intended to make others feel guilty. What a complete cop out!
In medicine, treatment is not useful unless there is a diagnosis…and a diagnosis is only possible with a review of the history and the current situation considered. Similarly, for social progress to occur, a review of the history and the current situation is absolutely necessary.
In 2013, the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision struck down the part of the Voting Rights Act [enacted in 1965] that required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to get approval from the federal government before changing their voting rules. This requirement was known as “preclearance.”
The Shelby County v. Holder decision opened the door, once again, for voter suppression. A 2024 study by the Brennan Center of nearly a billion vote records over 14 years showed that the racial voting gap is growing almost twice as fast in places that used to be covered by the preclearance requirement. Another recent study showed that in Alabama, the gap between white and Black voter turnout in the 2024 election was the highest since at least 2008. If nonwhite voters in Alabama had voted at the same rate as white voters, more than 200,000 additional ballots would have been cast.
Those that see woke as bad are essentially saying that past injustices should just be relegated to the dustbin of history and easily repeated as compassion and empathy are pushed aside. The example of the suppression of black votes in Alabama, the impeded voter registration, and now the “ability” to enact laws that return us to years gone by make our remembrance of the Bloody Sunday March in 1965 even more important. Being anti-woke seems to be a convenient way to reintroduce racism and bigotry into our society.
If woke is being “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” then count me in. My pediatric roots see all children as needing our care and compassion and nurturing, not just those of one’s choosing. Folks that argue for the latter live in a society that I do not recognize nor one that my loving mother would have recognized.
Let’s look again at some of the hot button “woke” issues –
- School choice – One is smeared as being woke if they rightfully argue that public school monies should be spent on public schools. If it is being woke to demand a better, more equitable public school system for all, then count me in.
- Books – Certain books are being described as offensive by some folks. Book banning under any name is frightening. If it is being woke to support book publishing and distribution to the limits of the law, then count me in.
- Gun regulation – Our Second Amendment guarantees our right to keep and bear arms, so it is said. The framers of the Constitution did not envision the current carnage that exists in our society. Firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the United States. If it is being woke to say that something must be done about gun regulation, then count me in.
- LGBTQ and transgender care – Folks that pursue different lifestyles out of desire or emotional need are not sub-human as many seem to portray them. I remember the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming back in 1998 and am appalled at the pervasive anti-gay rhetoric and hate that continues in our society for those that are judged to be different. If it is being woke to accept all people as our fellow humans and deserving of our love and care, then count me in.
- Systemic racism –The current negative hubbub about trying to understand the history of racism in our country and how the lingering effects are still present is misplaced guilt on behalf of several political figures. Such efforts are not intended to breed hate but are intended to seek solutions and to improve the lives of so many people that are currently affected. To try to squelch such efforts under the guise of saying that “critical race theory” (CRT) is un-American and that CRT attempts to blame and to raise fears of a group that are trying to teach children how to despise others is very upsetting. If it is being woke to acknowledge systemic racism and seek ways to improve the lives of those so affected, then count me in.
Woke is a term that has taken on more meaning than initially intended. I find it hard to argue against trying to be aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues, including racial and social justice. I will continue to speak on behalf of children and families (and communities) that have suffered from past injustices, without fear. I will continue to seek solutions to school inequities, book banning, and gun regulation; to continue to provide comfort and care to LGBTQ/transgender individuals; and to fight the past and present aspects of systemic racism that are still present. If doing all of these things is considered to be woke, count me in.
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/woke-im-in/
- https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-7-2025?r=2e9pdr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email