The strange afterlife of 'woke'
The term “woke” began its journey not as a fashionable slogan but as a survival mechanism within Black America. Its trajectory—from literal vigilance to political litmus test—reveals how language can be both weapon and shield. Survival and vigilance In its earliest uses, “woke” carried the weight of bodily survival and communal resistance. In 1923, Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey exhorted his diasporic audience with the cry, “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!”—a metaphorical awakening to racial oppression and collective empowerment. You can still look for him in the WhirlWind. ...