In Praise of Wokeism

I wrote a thing. I am angry.

I awoke at 4:00. I do not know why. Perhaps it is the Holy telling me to pray again. I am trying. I am. So, I am drinking my coffee. My meds are scheduled. I should probably hydrate. I’ve been reading Feminista Jones again. She wrote recently that…

“When your fight is against white supremacy, you can’t appeal to it. You can’t have beer with white supremacists and think they’ll stop being hateful racists bc you were kind to them. White people will always protect white people so you gotta come with a radical approach that might actually stand a chance.”

She challenges my thinking. I’ve been reading a lot of everything critical of the Democrats and how they mishandled the campaign. This includes voices from the political right as well. I’m trying to learn.

Many of my kin are elated by the election results. Some are thanking God for saving America from the fate of a Harris presidency. This is on Facebook, of course, so it may mean nothing. Eventually the AIs will replace us as content generators. “Here. Let me write that post for you,” they will offer. They have all the data they need to do so. The AIs just need to get smarter.

I digress. I have a lot on my mind. Sorry. Wokeism. Wokeism is solidarity.

“Solidarity is about a journey into seeing how the world looks to those who are oppressed, and seeking to walk alongside those who are trying to shape the world into a place of equality and justice. Those who stand in solidarity seek to learn from those they walk alongside, and they are also challenged to see what role they also play in the oppression of others. This is as true for me as it is for others,” says National Aboriginal Bishop and Gurindji man Chris McLeod

This is what I want to talk about today. Add to that…

Today’s Franciscan Nugget: “Day Seven - The Second Aim - To spread the spirit of love and harmony - The Order sets out, in the name of Christ, to break down barriers between people and to seek equality for all. We accept as our second aim the spreading of a spirit of love and harmony among all people. We are pledged to fight against the ignorance, pride, and prejudice that breed injustice or partiality of any kind.”

So, what then is “woke” or “wokeism”? Let us be pedantic for a moment. To be woke is to be “alert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially in racial and other social justice issues.” That’s all it is. No more. No less. Except, and most importantly, that it originates with the Black community in the United States and is as much a warning to the oppressed as it a progressive political posture.

“Stay woke” is a call to see the racist and classist truth about America. The phrase expresses the need to awaken our senses and look through the illusions of whiteness. This awakening is primarily relational.

We must listen to the people who suffer such injustice and believe them when they cry out. Believe them when they tell us who we are.

The Rev. William Barber wrote: “Though slavery officially ended after the Civil War, the Christianity that blessed white supremacy did not go away. It doubled down on the Lost Cause, endorsed racial terrorism during the Redemption era, blessed the leaders of Jim Crow, and continues to endorse racist policies as traditional values under the guise of a ‘religious right.’ As a Christian minister myself, I understand why, for my entire ministry, the number of people who choose not to affiliate with any religious tradition has doubled each decade. An increasingly diverse America is tired of the old slaveholder religion.”

A lot of us still adhere to that old slaveholder religion. Many of us who do are in the progressive mainline.

Some pundits are claiming that a Harris loss is a strike against wokeism. A Trump victory is a victory over wokeism. In the polarizing rhetoric of the campaign, this may seem to be the case. Except that the Harris campaign pulled to the middle in an almost Clintonian fashion. The Clinton administration was famous for its centrism. I argue that it is this centrism that actually hurts us in the United States. All of us. Centrism in American politics is white supremacy. It has led to corporatism and globalization that diminishes all human flourishing.

So, now we’re reaching to the far right to save us. The gamble of many millions of voters (primarily white voters) is that the demagogues and oligarchs will save the American dream. What they cannot see is that the American Dream is racist and classist at its core. What they cannot see is that demagogues and oligarchs do not share power. What they cannot see is that centrism is a political lie.

The oligarchs own the means of production. They own the political process. How we undo the damage wrought by the wealthy, I do not know. But the first step is to wake up to the truth of America. Listen to what our Black and Brown citizens are telling us. Get woke. It’s the best first step.

As always, be excellent to each other.