‘Woke’ is the opposite of whiteness

OPINION: The people who co-opted, redefined and weaponized the 80-year-old Black expression have finally settled on a concise, standardized definition for “woke.”

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

“And I thought personally, there was too much Black history,” she said.

That quote is from Cathy Odom, one of the race crusaders fighting on the Alabama front of the anti-woke culture war. The AL.com article in which this quote appears highlights the women trying to prevent the state from adopting textbooks that “indoctrinate our children with DEI [Diversity Equity and Inclusion], SEL [Social Emotional Learning], woke agenda and grooming our little ones.” But that sentence has dogged me for days. 

It is one of the most perfect sentences I have ever read.

Goddamn, is it a magnificent thing! How it twirls alone in a bedazzled spotlight of its own hate is beautiful. Its ability to encapsulate the entire ethos of a people is right up there with “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.”  It should be in the next Bible. Merriam-Webster should affix it next to the definition of whiteness. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It is a rich jewel in an ethiop’s ear. 

Finally, someone has offered an apt explanation for the political and social movement that has enraptured America. In a mere 10 words, this impromptu linguist managed to provide future generations with a concise translation of a phrase whose meaning has eluded us for months. This hate-spewing race warrior explained the world of whiteness. Let us marvel at its white excellence once more:

“And I thought personally, there was too much Black history.”

This is the definition of “woke.”

The reason why Cathy the Caucasian Crusader is opposed to a more inclusive curriculum is that she cannot fathom that K-12 schools quantifiably have too much white history. According to a study by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, public schools devote between 8.3% and 9.4% of their history curriculum to teaching about Black history. Considering the fact that 80% of public school teachers are white, compared to 46% of public school students, it is a wonder why history is so whitewashed. 

But instead of addressing this quantifiable disparity in the education system, people like Cathy would rather preserve the status quo by characterizing the solution as “woke.” They made the figure of speech synonymous with diversity, equity, inclusion, kindness and humanity. Luckily, there is a phrase that describes this belief system that favors “too much white history” and the effort to preserve it. Thanks to Bama’s own anti-Black Becky, we can now understand what this dog whistle of white fragility truly means.

Woke is the opposite of white supremacy.

I’m sure Ron DeSantis’ campaign team is preparing the required legal documents to trademark Odom’s off-the-cuff expression of caucasity.  DeSantis understands that his entire political platform rests on the idea of weaponizing white supremacy, which is defined as “the social, economic, and political systems that collectively enable white people to maintain power over people of other races.” An aide to DeSantis, on the other hand, defined woke as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”

Since then, DeSantis has devised an interstate human trafficking system that kidnapped legal asylum seekers and sent them to “woke cities” to protect Florida’s slim 52.7% white majority. He is trying to put Mickey Mouse in jail because Disney is indoctrinating our kids with the “woke” idea that gay, trans, Hispanic and Black people exist. When he demonizes DEI initiatives at public colleges, he’s trying to preserve a state where non-white taxpayers fund one of the 10 most unequal higher education systems in America.

DeSantis wants to STOP WOKE so that white supremacy can continue. 

To be fair, while the term “woke” has been commonly used by Black Americans for some 80 years, using it as a pejorative is not exclusively anti-Black. For instance, the anti-woke mob unleashed the conservative variant of cancel culture on Anheuser-Busch because trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted Bud Light. Meanwhile, people who masturbate to Jan. 6 footage targeted Target employees after the retailer sold Pride Month paraphernalia. Not to be excluded, white women are mad that Black humans steal roles from Anglo-Saxon mermaids.

If you didn’t understand that tweet, you’re not alone. The negro Ariel still has red hair, so what could this sentient whitefish woman be so upset about? Then again, beer can serial killer Kid Rock is taking out his frustration on innocent beer bottles as if Bud Light shouldn’t be allowed to acknowledge that even some trans people like their beer to taste like white mediocrity and Dockers. If wearing a rainbow T-shirt or drinking beer could turn people gay or change their sexuality, Pink Floyd concert tees would be illegal in Texas. 

And, if any tiny step toward diversity or inclusion is anti-white, then how should we refer to the demographics of state legislatures, corporate boardrooms, mainstream media and Taylor Swift concerts? If Bud Light is pushing the gay agenda, which agenda was being pushed by the previous 1,203,305,304,392 Bud Light commercials set in a world where only heterosexual white men aged 21-49 exist? If anti-racist education is woke, how do we describe the pre-Ibram X. Kendi education system? What is the opposite of critical race theory and the gay agenda and economic disparities and acknowledging people’s humanity and the racial disparities that exist in every crevice of a country that has resisted equality since the day it was founded?

That was a rhetorical question. I actually know the answer.

Sometimes, on not-so-rare occasions, I am asked why I often refer to myself as a “wypipologist.” Is it a joke? A subtle jab? While I understand why the term may seem offensive to some and confusing to others, it is an objectively absurd question. 

I usually tell these inquisitive souls that the suffix “-ology” simply designates a branch of knowledge. Nearly every university’s Black studies department  evolved from a curriculum that was originally known as “Africology.” I also believe it is impossible to understand America’s unique version of white supremacy by studying Black people. I remind them that Black people didn’t create racism, perpetuate or maintain racism — white people did. I explain that understanding racism and why it persists necessarily means studying white people. 

Asking why a Black person would study white people is like asking why a farmer studies the weather forecast or why doctors study germs. Whiteness has been the most dependable political, social and economic driver for every millisecond of American history. 

Plus, I think whiteness is infinitely fascinating. Whiteness is as transfixing as a distant star in the telescope of an earthbound astronomer. I am transfixed by its ability to transform itself and maintain its gravitational pull. I am mesmerized by how it explodes and collapses upon itself. And I know I’m not alone. 

“I know many souls that toss and whirl and pass, but none there are that intrigue me more than the Souls of White Folk.” W. E. B. Du Bois once wrote. “Is not the world wide enough for two colors, for many little shinings of the sun? Why, then, devour your own vitals if I answer even as proudly, ‘I am black!’”

In that same essay, Du Bois, the founding father of American sociology and perhaps the greatest genius this country has ever produced — Black or white — had his own definition of whiteness that is almost as good as Cathy Odom’s one-sentence treatise on the state of the Alabama education system.

“But what on earth is whiteness that one should so desire it?” 

Then always, somehow, some way, silently but clearly, I am given to understand that whiteness is the ownership of the earth forever and ever, Amen!

This is the war we are fighting. We are not battling an 80-year-old idiom or a graduate school philosophy or a work of journalism or Judeo-Christian values. We are fighting the effort to preserve the white supremacist wind that blows into the sails of those accustomed to coasting on their privilege. By demonizing progress as “woke,” they are safeguarding the system that benefits them. They created it. They own it. They are just ensuring the “forever and ever” part.

And personally, I think there is too much whiteness.

Michael Harriot is a writer, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His book, Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America, will be released in September.

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