To the average American the term "woke" is a strange word. Like many new words in the language, definitions are not always precise and understood. Wokeness has been defined, "as the need to search for more knowledge, understanding and truth in order to challenge injustice." It is also said to be from the African-American vernacular English meaning "social awareness' or "self- aware." "Woke" — alert to injustice in society, as to particularly racism, is a succinct definition.
Another definition or description of "woke' or "wokeness" is the separation of the white elitists (whomever they may be) from the white masses (the peasants, whomever they may be), while other races are ignored or patronized.
"Wokeness" has taken on an almost religious scheme and fervor. In this scheme or fervor, the woke persons embrace those they consider their inferiors to do the dirty work of street encounters, statue painting, statue toppling and other vandalism. This also has a distinct negative meaning for non-whites. Most whites lack "wokeness" and therefore, are racists.
Regardless, the term, "woke" or "wokeness" has become part of the news media and social justice lexicon. But, like such words, its meaning is in the eye of the beholder. Thus, the meaning of "woke" or "wokeness" has become lost with indiscriminate usage — with each user's own definition and application.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,appears to have assumed the role of President-in-waiting. She has become the voice of the Democrat Party. Radicals say she is not woke, but a wannabe. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has been relegated to an also-ran — not woke. The Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, D-Delaware, seeks refuge in his basement to limit his diminishing mental capacity. He is not "woke." All three are being belittled by a new wave of anarchists and nihilists.
Meanwhile, America boils over with the scourge of the caronavirus, Black Lives Matter accusations, financial fluctuation, rise in urban crime and indiscriminate allegations of racism or lack of "wokeness" to present and past presidents, movie stars, religious and domestic and foreign authors. President George Washington has been branded a racist and his statues defaced. President Abraham Lincoln's various statues nationwide have been toppled, marred, and/or destroyed. His efforts to end slavery have been distorted, defamed, negatively fabricated. In the District of Columbia, the Lincoln Memorial was defaced, and demonstrators vow to destroy it. The fact that as president, Lincoln presided over the Civil War which was meant to end slavery and free the African-descended slaves, is of no matter to the rioters and anarchists.
Among the most vocal anti-Lincoln personages is Nalah McWhorter at the University of Wisconsin. McWhorter, president of the University Black Student Union, has been quoted as saying that Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery, but it doesn't mean he supported equal rights for African-Americans. Also in Madison, Wisconsin, a jewelry store robber was later caught on camera helping to tear down the statue of Col. Hans Christian Heg, a Civil War hero. A "woke" hero? According to The Washington Post of June 28, 2020, Princeton University trustees say the university will remove President Woodrow Wilson's name from the University's Public Policy School due to the 28th president's (1913-1921) "racist" past.
The Washington Times reported that Orange County, California, Democrats want to rename its John Wayne airport because they think he was a "racist" and "bigot." Wayne's three wives were of Panamanian, Mexican and Peruvian nationality. The San Francisco, California, honor statue of Fr. Junipero Serra was toppled on Juneteenth, along with the statues of Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant in California's Golden Gate Park. Key wrote the American national anthem and Grant was a Union General in the Civil War and later president of the United States (1869-1877).
A Muslim BLM activist, Umar Lee, organized a mob to target the home St. Louis, Catholic Archbishop demanding to change the name of the city. City residents protected the statue of St. Louis IX, king of France. Moji Sidiqi,of the Regional Muslim Action Network told a local newspaper , "It's a revolution." St. Louis residents protected the statue. The mob backed off — it was made of cowards. The famous English author, Charles Dickens, has been castigated as "racist" by the British BLM. The question asked by the British citizens, are these BLM members "really Brits or immigrants?" Scotland's Robert the Bruce statue has been vandalized as a "racist king." Queen Victoria's statue in Leeds, England, has been painted with words, "Slave owner," "slag," and "whore." BLM has been credited with these acts of vandalism. Such action was not well received. Other countries are experiencing various forms of "woke" and "wokeness" with various degrees of tolerance. Most countries appear to believe that the "woke" fad will fade.
What will the American people demand and protect?
James H. Walsh was associate general counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1983 to 1994. Read James H. Walsh's Reports — More Here.
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