By Bob Topper
In 1939, Billie Holiday gave voice to a nation’s darkest truths with Strange Fruit, her haunting lament for the bodies of Black men and women hanging from trees in the Southern states. The year before, bluesman Lead Belly had recorded Scottsboro Boys, a ballad chronicling the prosecution of nine Black teenagers falsely accused of rape. At the end of his song, he offered a warning — “stay woke”— a phrase that would enter the Black lexicon as a call to vigilance, a reminder to remain alert to the dangers of racism, especially in the South.
Weaponizing Woke
Decades later, in 2019, The New York Times published the 1619 Project, a sweeping account placing slavery at the center of the American narrative. This interpretation clashed with the idealized, rose-colored version of history cherished by conservative groups, particularly White Christian Nationalists. Conservatives disparaged the article as “woke,” a derisive abuse of the word.
Everyone can and should be proud of our American heritage. The founders and the ideals they championed, freedom, equality and democracy shaped the world’s first liberal democracy. They revolutionized government and brought an end to the oppressive autocratic throne-and-altar alliance that had ruled western culture and denied basic human rights for centuries.
But the new American society was flawed. The treatment of Black people and native Americans was shameful. Yet the nation progressed. The civil war ended slavery, the 19th Amendment ensured women’s voting rights, and the Civil Rights Act banned discrimination, and more gains ensued for Americans with disabilities, Native Americans, and LGBTQ+. Still, the struggle to achieve Jefferson’s ideal of equality continues.
Clear thinking people know that good and bad are found in the history of every nation, and that the strongest nations are those willing to confront their failures. Germany, for instance, requires its students to learn about the Holocaust. America’s liberal education showed similar courage, until compromised by the Trump Administration’s recent attacks on our universities and museums. To deny historical truths, or to disparage them as “woke,” is both wrongheaded and corrosive.
Fundamentalists Spread the Word
Until the middle of the past decade the word “woke” pertained to racial awareness. But in that decade fundamentalists began to wield the word as a pejorative, and broadened its scope to mock other progressive views, especially views on sexuality and gender. Liberals, guided by scientific findings, accepted that human sexuality is more complex than the binary of male and female. Gender exists on a continuum, encompassing gay, lesbian, intersex, and trans identities—each a natural variation of human life.
Christian extremists, however, cling to scripture and reject modern science. That is their right. But they are wrong to scorn those who see things differently and to repeat an old pattern: the refusal to reconcile faith with fact.
This conflict is not new. Galileo was imprisoned in 1610 for asserting that the earth revolved around the sun. Darwin, in 1859, was branded a heretic for theorizing that humankind evolved rather than descended from Adam and Eve. Most Christians today agree with Darwin’s findings, and all accept a heliocentric solar system. Yet fundamentalists remain unwilling to accept the science of human sexuality, despite overwhelming evidence. Over seven percent of the population identifies as gay, lesbian, or trans. If one believes in a divine order, then surely such diversity must have been intended.
Unwilling to reconcile their beliefs, fundamentalists disparage those who accept the modern understanding of human sexuality just as they disparage people who have the courage to view America’s racial history objectively. They wield the word woke as a cudgel against all DEI initiatives.
By misappropriating woke, they dilute the meaning of the word and, at the same time, reveal the childish pettiness that has overcome the minds of present-day Republican conservatives. Frustrated by their inability to defend antiquated beliefs with rational arguments, they deny truth and scorn people who think critically. This is a remnant of the times before the Enlightenment when fear and ignorance permeated society and witches and heretics were burned at the stake.
Using language to attack, control, and manipulate others conceals the underlying fear, ignorance, and insecurity of Christian extremists. This tactic serves not only as a mask for their own anxieties, but also as a tool to demean, intimidate, and incite hatred toward those with differing views. By distorting the meaning of words and using them as weapons, fundamentalists attempt to undermine critical thinking and rational argument, diverting attention from the substantive issues of our time. Their reliance on language as a weapon derives from a refusal to reconcile faith with actual inquiry and perpetuates discord within American society.
No wonder we are so divided.
Bob Topper, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a retired engineer.