Being “woke” isn’t a contest.
***I haven’t written anything “scholarly” in over a month(Since I’ve been done with university). Now feels like a good time to start again.***
I hate when people put others down simply stating their opinion on social issues. Nine times out of ten, they are not as well versed as you on a topic, and to shame them for that is absolutely ridiculous and a waste of time and effort. One is essentially shaming or judging someone for being unaware of their own mistakes. “Woke shaming”, which is how I have decided to describe this phenomenon, is blaming the offender without understanding the cause of their offense. It is to pinpoint one part of an issue without understanding the intersectionality of the greater social issues within our society. As the legendary Lauren Hill says, “Everything is Everything”. Everything is interconnected to everything.
On the other hand, those who do know what they are doing is either wrong or offensive, and actively do so out of selfishness, lack of willingness to change, or are flat out doing so to harm others, are the people that are the issue and should be outed for their acts.
People within today’s society, are learning to understand wokeness as something to strive for and feel pride in, but are not really understanding the purpose of doing so. The entire idea of “social consciousness”, which is what “woke” derived from, is about collectively raising class consciousness to better society, and a lot of people do not realize this. They put others down, as opposed to bringing each other up. We must learn by talking through these ideas, and teach each other more. Instead of making “wokeness” another way to divide and differentiate each other, we must help each other. We have to work together to better society, and not make it another form of elitism. There is already enough of that in the world. I could unpack this idea of elitism further, but that is a topic that does not serve the purpose of this piece.
From the words of Karl Marx:
“In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will; these relations of production correspond to a definite stage of development of their material forces of production. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society — the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life determines the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.” Source: Wikipedia
In simpler terms, people are born into scenarios that shape the society around them. It is, metaphorically, a roll of the dice. Two examples could be a person born into a low income family, or someone born into a rich one. Their random chance of being born into these scenarios completely shape their existence, their decision trees, and, in essence, everything that will be presented to them. The institutions and foundations of society will either work for them or against them. Therefore, the fundamental institutions that people are born into (Social Constructs, Capitalism, Political Institutions, Gender Norms, etc.) predetermine the choices, life experiences, and overall well being of individuals within our society. To be born as a white, male in a rich family in America greatly heightens your opportunities in life. On the other hand, if one was born as an in Africa, to a poor African family, your opportunities, decisions, and overall quality of life is greatly stunted. Of course, there are miracle cases where one is able to defy all odds and find a better life for their family, but these are outliers that do not fix the root societal issues that affect the greater population group. Examples of such can be, the kid that was accepted to several universities despite coming from a very impoverished background, Barack Obama, Trevor Noah, rappers like Kendrick Lamar, the list goes on and on.
But just because they are able to succeed within the system, does not mean one can say “oh if they can do it, the rest of the oppressed can too”. There are greater social processes that lead to the oppression of populations within are society that are out of their control. Kendrick Lamar himself goes through a great deal of survival’s guilt. In songs and interviews, he states how he feels like he has left his city behind. This is why he always looks to pay homage and give back to his city, so that he does not feel as if he has let them down.
In order to progress our society, there must be a greater sense of togetherness. We must bring each other up. Capitalism has been teaching us otherwise, claiming that in order for true “progress” to occur, there must be winners and losers, but what we need if we want to be our best selves as a collective is to work with each other. If we truly desire to escape all of these false commodities, capitals, institutions, binaries, etc., it is going to require collective action, and this “call-out” culture is directly counter intuitive to this. Explain what you have learned from your lived experience, and assist others in correcting and amending the society that we all cohabit for not only yourself, but for the future.
