The Controversy Surrounding 'Woke'
In a recent roundtable discussion hosted by Roundtable anchor, Rob Nelson, speakers expressed their views on the word "woke" and its implications in current sociopolitical discourse. The conversation sparked a thought-provoking discussion about the term's origins, its present connotations, and the subsequent misunderstandings that have arisen.
Rob Nelson, kicked off the discussion stating, "Woke has become mainstream, but to say if you are anti woke, you're anti-black. For most people that means if I don't favor, if I'm not okay with insisting, I have to call everyone by their pronoun, I have to agree that there's no definition of a woman, I'm an anti-black person."
To this, Niko House, Journalist and Founder of MCSC Network responded, "No, that would also mean there's a complete and total misunderstanding of the use of the word." He further posited that Cori Bush, a politician known for using the term, was not applying it correctly and the same was true for conservatives.
The discussion took a turn as Sharon Kyle, Co-Founder of LA Progressive, voiced her perspective, "My assumption is Cori Bush is using the word in the way that the word was usually used to describe black people being aware and being conscious of the system that imposes itself on us."
Nelson countered, accusing Bush of exploiting the term to claim that being anti-woke equates to being anti-black. Niko House and Sharon Kyle brought up the activist background of Bush and the origins of the term "woke", tracing it back to a song by Erykah Badu.
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The debate then pivoted towards the hyperbolic use of terms by political extremes. Nelson shared his thoughts, stating, "The extremes of both sides in our mainstream political system play to the advantage of trying to retain their power and annihilate the other side." He described this kind of politics as destructive and suggested it leads to no one's victory.
Xavier Hawk, Founder of Phireon, chimed in with a unique angle. He believed the public was being distracted by cultural discussions such as the term "woke", stating, "This is the point, is that we are being fed at the trough of culture and we are having these discussions about woke, alt-left, alt-right...And while that's happening...there are people literally taking our livelihoods, our money and the future of our children away from us."
Concluding the discussion, Niko House voiced his agreement with Hawk, observing how these issues had never been a significant deal until they became a hot topic on social media platforms such as Twitter.
Watch the full discussion here:
