Sign Me Up

Last week Cracker Barrel restaurant announced it was offering a vegan sausage alternative on their menu. A statistically significant group of people went bonkers. It occurred to me that if people can expend energy on a menu item at a restaurant, they have way too much time on their hands. More interestingly, however, are the names that were leveled at Cracker Barrel. Most significant was the criticism that they are “too woke.” It is a phrase that is lobbed by social conservatives to indicate their displeasure with the tendency or commitment of an individual, group or agency to show awareness of social, political and economic injustice in our culture.

According to Vox, being “woke” was a watchword in Black communities. “…staying ‘woke’ and alert to the deceptions of other people was a basic survival tactic. But in 2014, following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, ‘stay woke’ suddenly became the cautionary watchword of Black Lives Matter activists on the street, used in a chilling and specific context: keeping watch for police brutality and unjust police tactics.”

Language is always fluid. The meaning of words change, new words are added to our vocabulary and other words are deleted as out of fashion or no longer meaningful. Being “woke” has evolved in a very short amount of time to mean an awareness of systemic racism, social injustice and political marginalization of historically marginalized communities. It is a moniker claimed by the left and denigrated by the right.

Aside from the blatant cultural appropriation of the phrase, which is in itself a problem, the notion of being “woke” is batted around in many contexts and many social circles. Where you are on the political spectrum largely defines how you view the term.

If being “woke” means:

• Being aware of systemic social injustice in our culture;
• Looking deep inside to see our own internalized racism;
• Constantly learning about the experience of others who are recipients of injustice and advocating for them;
• Being vocal in our communities, state and country about the economic, social and political injustice of the systems, structures and processes at every level of social and political life;
• Learning to see all the colors that make up our country and celebrating the diversity of cultures that are part of the USA;
• Making reparations to descendants of slaves who were brought here against their will beginning in 1619;
• Making reparations to Native Americans whose land was stolen during the colonial period; and
• Reading books like 1619 to educate ourselves about America’s original sin.

If all that and more is what it means to be “woke,” SIGN ME UP. I am woefully ignorant about much of our country’s history. I hope one day to be more fully “woke” so I can be a more responsible citizen of this great country and push back against the racism, sexism and every other “ism” that divides people into “us and them.”

If all that means that I am trying to be “politically correct,” SIGN ME UP. Being “politically correct” basically means we can’t trash-talk people who are different from us. It is a conscious decision to speak respectfully about people who are different from us until that conscious behavior becomes internalized into our language without effort. It means working at compassionate speech until it is no longer work, but rather second nature. It means believing what you are saying and living it out.

Being “politically correct” means:

• Learning and using correct and respectful language when referring to a person or group that is different from you;
• Honoring people’s self-definition even if it is something you do not understand. People who identify as transgender, non-binary or gender-uncertain do not need your permission to be who they are. They do, however, need your understanding and respect;
• Working to understand what it means for someone to identify as transgender, non-binary or uncertain about their gender identity;
• Not using judgmental or hateful language when speaking about marginalized individuals or groups; and
• Speaking up and speaking out for what is just and right.

Being “woke” and being “politically correct” are terms that are denigrated by those who want to see things stay the same or are unwilling to learn/accept that our times and our culture are changing. I believe that being “woke” and being “politically correct” are actions of compassion and acceptance that model the gospel.

Jesus regularly ate with sinners, outcasts and those whom society dismissed as insignificant. He drew them to the center of his life and ministry and foresaw a time when all people would be treated with the same love and respect. For Jesus, there was no “us and them.” If this is what it means to be “woke,” then SIGN ME UP.