Even Rep. Barista thinks 'Woke 1' was crazy

Both pieces, you could argue, are examples of "wokeness," that is, the awareness of the ways in which systemic racism has warped American life, especially for Black citizens. The concept is so offensive to Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that he pushed a "Stop W.O.K.E. Act" in 2022 to prohibit schools from teaching the "1619" material because it might make white children feel bad. (The law was declared unconstitutional this year.)

The Black Lives Matter movement, which exploded after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, is a sterling example of what it means to "stay woke," and in the very best way.

But the laudable impulses of the era unfortunately evolved into something darker, particularly in the spheres of journalism and academia, two supposed bastions of free speech, where people's careers were destroyed over perceived ideological and verbal transgressions. The policing of speech became untenable.

The editor of the New York Times editorial pages was forced out for running an essay by Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas arguing the federal government should send troops into cities where rioting and looting were taking place in the aftermath of Floyd's death.

Evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven felt she had no choice but to leave Harvard after stating what she considered "banal facts about human biology."

"I have become a poster child for how the growing campus DEI — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — bureaucracies strangle free speech," wrote Hooven in the Free Press.

The executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stan Wischnowski, resigned after an uproar occasioned by the headline "Buildings Matter, Too" on a story about property damage during civil unrest by the paper's architecture critic. An apology was not enough; a head had to roll.

"Wokeness" had become a parody of itself.

It's no surprise that some of the very left-wing figures who promoted the most controversial ideas associated with peak woke — defunding the police and the military, abolishing prisons, canceling Thanksgiving, etc. — are now distancing themselves.

As U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, democratic socialist of New York, toys with the idea of a 2028 presidential run, she recently made a splash by renouncing some of the movement's more extreme ideas, even ones she earlier embraced.

During a television interview with ABC's Jonathan Karl, Ocasio-Cortez even joked about it.

"Woke 1 was crazy," she told Karl, quoting her friend, New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, also a democratic socialist, who used that phrase in May when he was called out on social media for once posting that the next speaker of the New York City Council should not be a cisgender white man.

As Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez — "You briefly supported the idea of defunding the police" — she wriggled.

"During this time," she said, "especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window… And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place." (The Overton window refers to the range of ideas and policies that are broadly acceptable to the public at any given time.)

Political types and pundits were divided.

Some were offended that she seemed to be laughing off an important struggle.

Some demanded contrition for broken careers and shattered lives.

Some thought it was smart political strategy. GOP pollster Brent Buchanan told Axios that Ocasio-Cortez's moderation "tells me she's a good politician, because she's doing it now instead of next year."

And Democratic political strategist James Carville, who has been frothing at the mouth for years about the left flank of his party being too "woke," said Ocasio-Cortez doesn't need to spend too much time explaining. "She can say: 'I'm grown,'" Carville said, "and people understand that."

As "woke" became an albatross for the left, it has been weaponized by the right to the point of absurdity. Novelist Francine Prose wrote in the Guardian that she avoids the word because the far right uses it "to mock and discredit anyone who supports racial justice, economic equality, universal health care."

In the Trump administration, "woke" has become a catch-all insult. In January, for example, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced an overhaul of Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military's vaunted independent news source, to eliminate "woke distractions that siphon morale."

Last week, Stars and Stripes' longtime publisher Max Lederer quit in frustration. The paper's ombudsman, whose job was to guarantee its independence, had long since been fired by the Pentagon.

Now, it appears, instead of breaking top-notch stories about, say, the terrible supply shortages and mental health crises aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its record-breaking deployment in the Middle East, the publication will become an outlet for news releases and other pablum from the Department of Defense.

G od forbid our soldiers and sailors should read about how the Pentagon mishandles traumatic brain injuries, how toxic mold flourishes in base housing or how some military families rely on food stamps to feed their kids.

If those are "woke distractions," please give us more.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Robin Abcarian is a columnist at the Los Angeles Times.

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