"WOKE"

 

  Once upon a time I was attending BMCC during the fall of 2016. One out of the three courses I attended was Conflict Resolution (COM 250). While in class the setting was a little "unorthodox." Students would sit together in a circle, while the professor sat in the middle. Come to think of it this setting was very therapeutic. It was as if the professor was trying to play the role of a Jewish/female version of Agape founder Michael Bernard Beckwith. Please excuse the dry humor. Memories of my days in college come in small quantities.   

  It was sometime during the course of the semester where the class was to discuss the topic of police brutality. The date of the discussion had arrived. You know your man went all the way in. And I forgot to mention the fact that the discussion was a two class gig. Among the students you can hear ouch's and ah's, along with snaps and the term facts being thrown around. Throughout the rest of the semester I would hear some of my fellow classmates tell their friends that I was the true definition of "WOKE." I myself have never understood or used the term "WOKE" a day in my life. Am I conscious or aware? Yes. Am I in tune with the current social climate that's plaguing the nation and the world? Yes. However, I don't feel as though I should be put into a silly new age terminology to be seen as giving a damn about society's ill's.    

  College with it's in's and out's, and up's and down's has become a topic of extreme annoyance and trauma. After a while I felt that I was being used as a pawn on a chessboard (a black one to be exact). From a number of rude professors to unprofessional staff members my existence as a college student started to weigh heavy on me. By the time I attended BMCC during the fall of 2017 I was so fed up with the B.S. that didn't care what I would put on my statement for my Title IV Appeal. What should've been the transaction of passing the baton and giving instructive life advice turned into individuals with authority taking advantage of another group of individuals who were toddlers in their walk in life and society. Authority that hasn't been checked turns into systems of oppression and totalitarian institutions. That's all I have to say about this ever-growing debacle on the topic called college.      

  At age twenty-six I stand as a proud millennial. Typical is a word mostly used and associated with millennials, and I can see why. The clothes we wear. The hairstyles of our choice. Even the terms we love to throw around. Nothing we abuse to no vail is new. "WOKE", as a term was first used in print by author William Melvin Kelley in 1962. During the time of the printed work the term was used to make people aware of what was happening. To simply define the latter, to be "WOKE" was to put someone on game. Of course one may say that the terminology has changed over the years. "WOKE" would change to conscious, starting a whole new thought movement through the recycling of lectures posted on social media platforms.       

  To be "WOKE" is a good thing and is nothing to be ashamed of. However, the term and ideology isn't appropriate as it regards to certain settings or circumstances. Can you imagine a lawyer using the phrase "stay woke" in a courtroom while defending his/or her client. Can you imagine a doctor giving a patient a heads up about his/or hers health and while warning them about their bad habits the doctor waves a finger and says "stay woke.' What if a congressman, a senator, or even a president got up in front of thousands towards the end of a speech and told listeners to remember to "Stay Woke America." With all pun intended whether it be "WOKE" or "stay woke" either way it is meant for slang used by millennials, zoomers, social media, discussion groups, and a word that's used on the street.      

  Changing the world and tackling society's ill's will take more than hashtags and the usage of flashy terms. Living in the U.S. under our current divided state making things more complicated will only deepen our wombs and make our foes laugh at us. The late rapper The Notorious Biggie Smalls was quoted saying "We can't change the world unless we change ourselves." I would add on to that by stating that 'No matter what the situation is take the light that lives inside you and go out into the world and build things of progression and logic. Through these sets of action we can only hope that future generations will be placed in a better conditions."-[4/28/2021]