The Hijacking of ‘Woke’ and Its Impact

The term “woke” originated in Black communities in the early 1900s and was used in racial justice movements. Woke means that someone is informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality. But like “patriot” and “freedom,” hijacking of the term by the political right is manipulative misappropriation and a classic dog whistle built around energizing fear.

I respect and appreciate the woke out there and encourage your passion and commitment to strengthening communities through compassion, equality and support for the marginalized, disenfranchised and underserved who are increasingly targeted for agendas of hate and exclusion. We see this in Fountain Hills under the guise of “reclaiming” the town.

Eliminating Fountain Hills’ lobbyist did not benefit town interests, but it did give Allen Skillicorn a direct line to the state legislature and District 3 representatives Chaplik, Kavanagh and Kolodin as they legislatively target the LGBTQ community and endeavor to criminalize the homeless. Skillicorn has appeared at statehouse meetings in support of these bills and recently used the plight of a homeless individual on local State Trust land to generate fear toward his agenda of more guns on school campuses. It is disheartening to think of how this person living outdoors in Arizona’s climate on the outskirts of an affluent community is used as such a pawn. It must be part of “reclaiming” Fountain Hills?

“A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.” Proverbs 29:7.

Demonizing is not exclusive to Skillicorn. Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce employee Hannah Toth recently tweeted, “Say it with me: you are not a woman if you have a Y chromosome.” We are left to hope that people who identify – outwardly or privately – as LGBTQ are not discriminated against in Fountain Hills and are treated with kindness. Fountain Hills Times,