If you’re bothered by the pressure to announce whether you go by “he,” “she” or “they” on your email signature, or if you cringe at the use of “Latinx” rather than Latino or Hispanic, then Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to be your guy. And he has a diagnosis for what’s causing such discomfort: “Wokeness.”
There are “woke” teachers. “Woke” corporations. “Woke” elites, which has a subcategory of the “woke” Hollywood elite. There’s also the “woke” mob, a versatile moniker that covers everything from Black Lives Matter protesters to Twitter commentators.
The genius behind DeSantis’ use of this word — “Florida is where woke goes to die,” he said after his reelection — is that it can mean anything to anyone, especially white conservatives frustrated with cultural changes. But he never fully explained what “woke” actually means, at least to him.
Now DeSantis’ own staff has offered a glimpse into the governor’s mind. Testifying during the trial challenging the suspension of Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren — who pledged not to criminalize abortion — they were asked to define woke.
“It would be the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” DeSantis General Counsel Ryan Newman said, as reported by Florida Politics.
The governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, added that woke is a “slang term for activism … progressive activism,” and it has meant a general belief in systemic injustices in the country.
Fenske and Newman got some of it right. Woke generally means being aware that racism can be subtle and embedded into laws or institutions. The latter is an idea that is central to another DeSantis enemy: critical race theory, an academic area of study mostly discussed in law schools that DeSantis says is corrupting K-12 students.
More importantly, Newman also said DeSantis does not believe there are systemic injustices in the U.S. The real injustice here, if you follow his reasoning, is white and heterosexual people being asked to reflect on their own beliefs and actions.
Never mind that real injustice still persists, even if, undoubtedly, America has made progress. A recent ABC News documentary, for example, looked into discrimination in the home appraisal industry. The investigation found the appraised value of homes increased when a white family stood in for Black owners. Other examples abound. Black Americans consistently rank behind their white peers on measures of social and economic development, often as a result of discriminatory policies put in place decades ago such as redlining — segregationist, New Deal-era, federal housing practices.
In the color-blind version of America DeSantis seems to be promoting, racism doesn’t exist outside of a few isolated incidents. If it does, white people are also victims. A 2019 survey by Pew Research Center found that white Republicans were more likely to believe that white people suffer at least some discrimination. Among those who believed white people faced more discrimination than Black Americans, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by about 6 to 1.
This sentiment is not new. But thanks to Donald Trump, and now Florida’s governor, it has found validation. Ideas we scoffed at, such as “reverse racism,” have found real strength. For example, political ads that circulated in Georgia and Tallahassee in the midterms issued a call to “end anti-white bigotry,” according to Politico. They were paid for by America First Legal, founded by former Trump immigration adviser and known bigot Stephen Miller. No surprises here.
The anti-woke crowd has been able to convince a segment of the American public that policies created to repair injustice are actually special privileges. DeSantis forced the Florida Legislature to pass a congressional redistricting map that wiped away half of the state’s Black-majority districts. The move flies in the face of a 2010 state constitutional amendment designed to end partisan and racial gerrymandering.
But DeSantis flipped that concept on its head. He claimed it’s Black districts that are “racially gerrymandered” and said he would only support a “race-neutral” congressional map. What he considers “neutral,” however, benefits only one demographic.
When DeSantis speaks of “woke,” he isn’t just talking about what some may perceive as the excesses of a politically-correct culture. He isn’t just inserting himself into a cultural conversation. He’s got greater ambitions for how he wants Florida — and the nation, if he runs for president — to deal with its legacy of discrimination and racism. He wants us to ignore it, close our eyes to the reality many Americans still have to face.
What’s worse, he’s using the “woke” moniker to ridicule, scorn and silence those who speak up about those inequalities or who dare to think differently. Not since Trump introduced MAGA into our political vocabulary has a four-letter word encapsulated so much baggage and resentment.
