Lori Falce: The problem with the word woke

I hate the word woke.

Let’s be clear. This is not a conservative hatred of an agenda. It is not a liberal hatred of the right’s reaction to that perceived agenda.

It is, however, a loathing that exists on a number of levels. Allow me to explain.

First — and this cannot be underestimated — is my visceral grammar-nerd response to this past-tense verb being not just used but gleefully overused as an adjective and sometimes even as a noun. It’s not your typical use of a verbal form. It’s not a gerund or a participle. It’s close to being right and yet still just … not.

And tacking on a suffix to make it “wokeism?” I had a music teacher in high school who reacted to a wrong note like someone had electrocuted his spine. I used to feel he was being overly dramatic. Nope. I feel the same way about this word.

Mostly, I hate the way a concept that should be about understanding is used by so many people as a weapon.

Woke in this context was born in a play by Barry Beckham in 1972, but it did not become a part of the wider lexicon until the last 10 years, when it quickly jumped into the forefront of discussions with racial context and heat.

The protests in Ferguson, Mo. The death of Eric Garner in New York City.

Related

• John Stossel: The Woke AMA
• Arkansas Gov. Sanders slams Biden for 'woke fantasies'
• Rachel Marsden: Is it time for anti-woke populist non-interventionists to start their own U.S. party?

It flashed over like a spreading fire and became part of discussions of other discrimination, like sexism and homophobia. The #MeToo movement gave it oxygen.

More than a few used it to pander. They used it to prop up their own position at the expense of another group. It took on a competition aspect as holier than thou became wokier than thou. (Yes, I hate myself for “wokier.”)

But attention also made it a target, and political opponents took up the word as another kind of cause.

“Woke,” like “politically correct” before it, has become a firestorm word. Instead of saying “I am awake and aware of what is happening around me,” it is now being used to mean “people doing things that strike at the heart of my beliefs.”

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act in April 2022. The name explains the political pivot the word has made. For a large part of the country, “woke” means a threat.

And this is what I hate about it.

My entire life is about trying to use words to educate and inform. I use them to impart information, lift veils and shine spotlights. I respect the power of words with the reverence some people have for church music and the perfect sunrise.

To see a word that was originally intended to be about opening eyes turned into a club to blacken them and swell them shut is painful.

It mystifies me why this is the four-letter word that has become the new curse. It is a taboo and an epithet when it was intended as an indication of understanding.

I hate to demonize words the same way I try to embrace opinions because even the worst has its place in a discussion.

But when it comes to “woke,” perhaps its overuse and misuse has left it so tired that it needs a nap. Lets find better ways to make our points and maybe we can get more accomplished.

Or maybe not. But if I’m not woke, at least I can dream.