Stay Woke: Our Fight for truth and justice
book description
This book provides the true meaning of the word "woke" and not the misbranded definition promoted by various politicians and political pundits today. The word means to be sensitive and aware that racial and social injustices exist. There is a direct connection between racial and social injustice of the past and inequalities seen in today's Black community and other communities of color. The author issues an earnest plea to cease "reframing" the word "woke" as a dog whistle designed to tug at the heartstrings of those not interested in promoting equity, racial and social justice by labeling the word as both "divisive" and unnecessary. Politicians' mischaracterization and viscous co-opting of the word "woke" is misleading and represents disinformation at its best. This book begins by explaining that the origin of the phrase "stay woke" was introduced into the American lexicon by the talented Black musician Huddie William Ledbetter ("Lead Belly") in 1938 in a song called Scottsboro Boys. The Scottsboro Boys were nine young Black men unjustly imprisoned following false claims of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The case drew national attention and exposed the blatant racism of the Alabama criminal justice system. The term "stay woke" in this song warned Blacks to remain vigilant and aware of the cruel reality of racial injustice when traveling through Alabama.
Further, "woke," defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means "to be aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues--especially racial and social justice issues." Unfortunately, some right-wing politicians have intentionally defiled the word's true meaning by co-opting it as being divisive as they advocate for a "colorblind" society that severs the connection between the past and its impact on present-day racial, social, and economic injustices. In Stay Woke: Our Fight for Truth and Justice, a direct correlation is made between racially-constructed laws and policies of the past to inequalities seen in six areas that continue to affect Black Americans adversely: voting rights, education, housing, incarceration, healthcare, and the transfer of generational wealth. This book reveals racial discrimination policies of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that explicitly restricted providing loans to Blacks until the passing of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which lead to de jure segregation of American cities; the deliberate design and construction of highways that disrupted Black communities making them more vulnerable to pollution and in some cases, created food deserts; disparities in funding that systematically limited funding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and public schools; policies such as Operation Pipeline that taught police how to racially profile Blacks and Latinos; laws that prevented voting rights and how these tactics have now evolved into modern day voter suppression; how racial discrimination affected Black servicemen receiving mortgage loans and education from the GI Bill after returning from World War II which contributed to the establishment and transfer of generational wealth; the deliberate creation of dog-whistles to disparage the Black community for political gain through tape conversations revealed by Presidential advisors in the late 1960s and how these images are still operative today through media priming. This book covers all of the above facts and more. A deliberate strategy to reframe "woke" in a divisive manner contributes to the censorship of Black American history. Disconnecting from the root causes of inequality makes it almost impossible to provide solutions to resolve present-day racial and social justice issues. The book emphasizes that the Black experience has always been about race and inequality in this country. Other people of color and marginalized groups should read, understand, and "stay woke" because they have their own stories to tell. Colorblind, in the political sense, erases historical injustices as the root causes of today's quest for racial and social justice in the six areas identified in this book. Being woke involves acknowledging and understanding the past to resolve racial, social, and economic equality barriers.