Word of the Day: Woke 1.0
Defunding the police turns out to be the step too far.
Woke 1.0
noun
There’s no official definition, but the term is largely being used to refer to the period between 2018 and 2021 when social justice language was at its peak in mainstream culture. Certain progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have started to use “Woke 1” disparagingly, as a way to distance themselves from that period and signal that they stand for a new form of left-leaning politics that is more palatable to centrist Democrats. “Woke 2”, I suppose.
| Arwa Mahdawi, Sure, ‘Woke 1’ had its issues – but we have far bigger problems on our hands
(Not to be confused with dark woke, a whole different thing.)
“Woke 1.0 was crazy,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said in a recent interview.
The congresswoman, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, seemed to distance herself from the positions of an era of Democratic politics around 2020, shortly after she rose to prominence. Some on the left now see the rhetoric of that time as ineffective and divisive. There has been a widespread retreat on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts among corporations. And some public officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, have walked back their calls to defund the police.
If Woke 1.0 is in the past, when did it die? And has Woke 2.0 risen from its ashes?
When did the term Woke 1.0 surface?
Ocasio-Cortez said on “This Week” that she was quoting Chi Ossé, a far-left New York City councilman, when she described the so-called Woke 1.0. (Ossé posted about the “crazy” era on X in May. )
That era is sometimes referred to colloquially as peak woke. In May, Yemisi Egbewole, a former Biden White House aide, posted on X praising Texas State Representative James Talarico, who is running for a Senate seat, after he walked back statements from that era.
| Madison Malone Kircher, A.O.C. Said ‘Woke 1.0 Was Crazy.’ But What Is It?