The Term Woke Is Losing Its Punch

“It was a linguistic indication that revolutionary consciousness had made ‘the long march through the institutions.'”

​​It appears that the shelf life for the term woke is approaching its end.

Of late, its use in a derisive manner seems to have become more prominent than its application as a point of pride. There has then arisen a backlash against this, with those perfectly fine with corporations, sports leagues, universities, and governments becoming ever more woke striving to reclaim it.

But there are indications that the public is finding the back-and-forth tiresome.

The etymology of the term is rather interesting. The folk singer Huddie Ledbetter used it in his 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys.” The song deals with a particularly ugly racial incident and subsequent set of trials. Ledbetter cautions anyone to “best stay woke” when traveling through the area in Alabama where the incident took place. In 2008, R&B singer Eryka Badu’s song “Master Teacher” includes the refrain “stay woke.”

When the term first came into common usage in a positive sense a few years ago, it had the strong scent of self-congratulation and superiority. It was a linguistic indication that revolutionary consciousness had made “the long march through the institutions.” When enthusiasts pointed to a woke organization, the message was clearly that the organization would not be going back to old bigoted ways, that it was in the vanguard of a new day.