Before you fight over the word ‘woke,’ learn its history. It will blow you away.
Phil Boas Arizona Republic editorial columnist, AZCentral
Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination
Less than 10 years ago, “woke†was a word so deeply layered with history and meaning it could evoke years of pain suffered by descendants of slaves living in Jim Crow America.
Led Belly Foundation: ‘
Woke’ emerge with a song about race and suffering by: Led Belly, who admonished listeners to, “Best Stay Woke!†It’s believed to be the first recorded instance of the word. WOKE
As Huddie Ledbetter used “woke,†it meant, when you’re a Black person traveling through a deeply racist state such as Alabama, you need to know, you’re dealing with – a highly refined form of evil.
That Evil personified the real meaning of WOKE: George Floyd was murdered by Racist White Supremist police officers, and televised worldwide. It Woke Young White to activism for a minute; and prove to the whole-world, Black people’s struggle with the police in America.
The word, “Wokeâ€was preserve in the Library of Congress in the 1930s when Congress decided to preserve American folk music in the South. That project took library archivists to Louisiana where they discovered a little-known African American blues singer named Huddie William Ledbetter or “Lead Belly.â€He was a seminal figure in the development of Folkways Records, and his work played a major role in the establishment of Folkways at the Smithsonian.
That discovery took Leadbelly north, where he performed at Harvard, Princeton and NYU, to name a few of his professional endeavors. And now, the governor of Florida (A graduate of Harvard) has the audacity to think he can, “decide how African-American contributed to American history; But that won’t happen. His prejudice won’t allow him, or the group he chose to do the research to deal with the real meaning of “WOKE.†He should have spoken to his fellow alumni: Barack Obama.
The 1619 project is the correct history our children are going to encounter on the world stage. The racist white supremacists in America is in capable of telling the true history of our country. The truth is too overwhelming for them. But, it is what it is, and it will never be a lie.
The white supremists use of the word, “WOKE†verifies, their racist attitude. Their woke is: suppressing the vote, banning abortion, getting rid of affirmative action, banning books-not guns, supporting someone for president, whose total purpose is to destroying our democracy.
The governor of Florida says,â€We can never, ever surrender to woke ideology. He also added, “the state of Florida is where woke goes to die.â€
America, let’s see, “who lives or die. Good will always triumph evil.
Let’s embrace our history, The Good, Bad and Ugly. Then Americans of all races will fight to give African Americans their word back. We’re praying for the soul of America in Jesus’s name. Amen
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