If you listen to conservative news commentators, there is a strong insistence against anything “woke”. What is it to be “woke“ and why are certain people so strongly against it? Basically, the term means a person who has recently become aware of systematic racism, as in “awoken” to a problem that has been occurring for a long time that they weren’t aware of. Some of these issues include housing, voting, education, justice, pubic works, legal aid, policing and clean water.

By this simple definition, being “woke” would apply only to someone most likely not directly affected by the racism previously mentioned, so probably someone in the majority, and financially or socially insulated from the disparity.

Who would be against the communication of these injustices and disparities? Just follow the money. The people fighting “wokeness” are people who benefit financially, eg. landlords, bankers and employers, or anyone profiting from continued desperation and poverty. The same people who gladly embrace literal slavery in order to maximize profits and minimize spending. Sweatshops and human labor trafficking are modern names for enslavement.

Why should I oppose “woke” changes to the status quo when the system is beneficial to the majority white population which I am a part? What a terrible question, but, yeah, why should I? Because rich, powerful people don’t stop using others to increase their own profits. They have profited from poor or otherwise marginalized white people as well. An example is the history of the Irish and the Jews. Here light-skinned people differentiated by religion and culture were mistreated when the majority was convinced that their suffering was acceptable.

Turning a blind eye to these current problems is a form of complicity that allows for unjust treatment to continue. In order to change these practices, society would have to pass rules against them, so it wouldn’t just be the minority, but a majority saying, “no more.”