What is 'Woke’?
Woke comes from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). It means to be alert to racial prejudice and discrimination against the Black community.
Did you know that the term "stay woke" dates back to the 1930s?
Back then, it had the same basic meaning referring to awareness of social and political issues affecting Black people. It was first mentioned in music in a recording by Lead Belly. Decades later, Erykah Badu mentioned it in her music in the 1990s.
Fast forward to 2014, to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the birth of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. BLM activists raising awareness about the disproportionate police shootings of Black people popularized the term yet again.
It then exploded on Black Twitter, and "woke" was more popular than ever, with Black people fueling a new civil rights movement.
Not long after, it became somewhat of a meme, and white people began appropriating the term to encompass issues unrelated to the Black struggle. As is typical when non-white terminology gets white-washed, it muddies the waters and makes defining it difficult for white people and a weapon for anti-Black racists.
