Sunday Sunday… always the best day to drive into Boston/Cambridge.  The roads in the morning are empty and you can watch the city wake up.  My first ride today I picked up in Newton… a young woman going to the airport to head down to a conference in Washington DC.  This young woman was a Rabbi named Jen.

The conference Rabbi Jen was going to attend was on Social Justice… Social Justice you ask?  So think of Ferguson, MO.   Jen’s big issue right now is waking up Suburban White kids to how good they have it… and showing them how they can get involved and make a difference… they need to appreciate what they have and the power they have to make a change in society.  It’s interesting to hear about people’s passions, interests, what moves them, their purpose and how they go about achieving them.

“WOKE” is what is moving Jen… any many people in this country are against people that are “WOKE”s.  It’s odd to think about people being against being aware & in doing what is right!  Many of these people are confused about what “WOKE” is really about. Woke started as Black slang with early writings back in the 1930s aimed at Black people being awake and alert about survival tactics in knowing where it was safe and unsafe for them to live. Over time “WOKE” has broadened to mean awreness of any kind of social inequality including: racism, sexism, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental issues and economic injustice.  Today some people think of “WOKE” as being socially aware & caring. There are people who think negatively about being “WOKE” as too politically incorrect or overly focused on identity politics. Here is a brief timeline on the evolution of “WOKE”

• 1930s-40s-First appearances… For the Black community to stay awake but also stay alert to danger.
• 1960s-1970s… Used in Black communities to mean politically & socially aware
• 1980s-1990s… Bein& community talk.
• 2000s … Brought back in music & the internet
• 2010s… Mainstream & Black Lives Matter
• 2010-and beyond… Expansion & backlash – expanded to included awareness of all inequalities including: race, gender LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, etc.  At the same time critics started to use the term as a negative word, implying people were being too politically correct or overly progressive

To me… “WOKE” is the only way to be as it reflects to just being aware on all social & worldly issues and doing the right thing!!!  Jen’s mission is a tough one as well as a noble one & I love her mission. I am thinking that Rabbi Jen will succeed in having white suburban kids connect the dots and do the right thing.