By 2021, woke had become used almost exclusively as a pejorative, with most prominent usages of the word taking place in a disparaging context. In turn, some commentators came to consider it an offensive term with negative associations to those who promote political ideas involving identity and race. By 2020, parts of the political center and right wing in several Western countries were using the term woke, often in an ironic way, as an insult for various progressive or leftist movements and ideologies perceived as overzealous, performative, or insincere. The terms woke capitalism and woke-washing were coined to describe companies who signal support for progressive causes as a substitute for genuine reform. Mainly associated with the millennial generation, the term spread internationally and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. After seeing use on Black Twitter, the term woke became an Internet meme and was increasingly used by white people, often to signal their support for BLM, which some commentators have criticised as cultural appropriation. Following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, the phrase was popularised by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists seeking to raise awareness about police shootings of African Americans. The phrase was uttered in a recording by Lead Belly and later by Erykah Badu. The phrase stay woke had emerged in AAVE by the 1930s, in some contexts referring to an awareness of the social and political issues affecting African Americans. Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for American Left ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans. Woke ( / ˈ w oʊ k/ WOHK) is an English adjective meaning " alert to racial prejudice and discrimination" that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).
United States Congresswoman Marcia Fudge with a T-shirt reading "Stay Woke: Vote" in 2018
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