Awaken ye | If you use 'woke' as a pejorative, you're using it incorrectly

The term ‘culture war’ always makes me wary – used to describe, loosely, those who believe in inclusivity, and those who don’t – it brings to mind the angry, warring factions on Twitter.

But more importantly, stripped of politics and punditry, what it truly means is a battle between those who want the traditional seats of power to stay in power, and those who believe that equality of opportunity is best. Put even more plainly, it describes the fight between those who don’t want anyone different to exist –whether that’s gay people, black people, immigrants or people who like that new fangled rock ‘n’ roll music – and those who think everyone has a right to exist, freely and without prejudice.

One of the most hotly contested terms in that ‘struggle’ between right and wrong, is the word ‘woke’. Let’s explore what it really means, and why it is never appropriate, particularly for a white person, to use as a pejorative term.

The history of the word woke

As per most sources, there is a long history of the idea of 'slumbering vs being wide awake' in the African-American community – all uses call for black people to stay alert to the dangers that they face at the hands of white people, particularly being falsely accused of crimes, facing death or physical violence and of course, being intimidated into silence.