To Be Woke

it has poignant origins, to stay woke meant to keep aware of the social situations facing Black Americans during a time of grave danger and injustice. This wasn't just a small slice of time in history, and it has cultural meaning to a significant population of Americans, to be woke meant being vigilant to current tensions aimed against them, and to be caught asleep at any time was dangerous indeed. 

to get a feel for this we can listen to Lead belly's song from 1938 "Scottsboro Boy's" were he advises everyone to "stay woke and keep their eyes open". We can get a feel for this right now, 2023, by watching the news and seeing the statistically outrageous number of Black Americans killed by the police, daily, and the indifference most of the population shows towards this issue. It's not because we don't care, or at least I don't believe so, but more that that this news  has fallen to the background noise of our daily lives. 

we remain unaffected, asleep. 

we're not woke because we don't have to be. 

and it's difficult for so many of us to be awakened. 

now, to be woke holds a bit more meaning to many other Americans, it applies to women in the workplace and the inequality that's so often shown, it's to the growing loss of their reproductive rights, the erosion of voting  rights for Black American's, marriage equality for Gay couples, and so much more and more, and more, threats that seem small enough to ignore, to sleep through, and yet we would wake to such a complete loss of freedom. To stay woke means we don't ignore the plight of any, not the least amongst us. 

is there overkill, is there the possibility of being too woke and serving notice to a population that remains largely unaware of what still remains a present danger? Well, that depends - how woke would you wish other's would be if it were you who in this situation? Some believe that we are beyond the point where any of us needs to be woke, we've come so far, and America at it's core is a free and just society. Governor Ron DeSantis has proudly claimed that Florida is were woke culture comes to die and with that statement he ignores the plight of so many who are vulnerable, and might now feel afraid to speak their minds. We are not ready to fall back asleep and ignore the hurt of others, we can't be, ever, and that means being watchful to anything that might harm another, not ignoring signs of racial tension, and more so, being empathetic to the voices that call for us to awaken. 

it amazes me that it's only be a few years since the advent of "woke culture" as a popular term and that already there's a backlash occurring. But we are only a few generations removed from slavery, less so to Jim Crow laws, Gay Americans have only recently earned the right to marry, and even right now women are losing the power to determine what happens with their bodies. There's a pendulum swinging here and once it swung hard against the rights of so many, no, not just rights, but very safety of their existence. Today, it swings in the opposite direction with a bit more justice and concern for those long effected by it's previous harm, and there are some who are dismayed by what's going on, they're caught asleep and are afraid by what they sense is coming, fearful of the backlash of the swing. Yet a pendulum's nature is to settle, there's a sweet spot where love prevails and we come to care for each other through all the differences that we offer. Perhaps it's time to have a conversation with each other, truly being open, not just to our own personal concerns but to the concerns facing others. Perhaps it's time for the pendulum to settle. 

why be woke? 

because there's still a need to be so. 

let's ask ourselves why. 

~

Peace, Eric