Update: 3 16 2023
Update 8 11 2023: Consumers are rejecting the anti-woke; Consumers are rejecting the anti-woke movement to demand CEOs speak out on important social issues: ‘Today, you cannot say nothing’ (msn.com)
The far right and echo DeSantis raise their ugly white nationalist heads with these comments.
https://katv.com/.../far-right-conservatives-blame... The assumption from white supremacists is that those of color and women are inferior folks, not
smart enough or able to understand banking. In 2008, the parade of execs who got skewered for that banking debacle was all white males, though one white woman did go to jail. Dodd-Frank, legislation that resulted to reform the system would have required more cash reserves and a stress test that would have set off alarm bells in advance of the bank failures, but Congress ended Dodd-Frank during the Trump administration. Lehman Brothers, the first bank to go under in 2008 was also a white-male institution. The Credit Suisse execs just bailed out by their government today also were not woke and were all white males. So much for the wisdom of the superior race and sex.
Far-right conservatives claim DEI efforts, 'woke' culture caused Silicon Valley Bank crash
The GOP's newest buzzword, anti-woke, is an infection that needs an antidote now. Even if Ron DeSantis never becomes the GOP candidate for president, he has coined this term that masks the ugly turn the GOP has taken and given it wings in the "cultural wars". Now the term is being spread to more than just cultural and racial issues, but to slashing economic policies and social programs benefitting minorities, dear to the heart of the radical right wing of the GOP. It needs to be called out for what it is: a camouflaged racist term for war on the poor and the middle class and a war on civil rights
DeSantis' newest proclamation before a convention of police is that the cause of crime is "woke". In short, police reform is causing crime; "woke" fuels police reform so end woke. As outlandish as that sounds, it appealed to the mostly white audience of police as he took his same "woke = crime" to two other venues this past week. Now more on the right than just DeSantis are attempting to meld white nationalism with wider GOP ideology to promote a wide range of attempts to roll back civil rights and government assistance giving the disadvantaged. the poor, and the struggling middle-class a hand up. This approach is at the brink of getting traction and needs to be nipped in the bud by calling it out for what it is and what it does as toxic to the fabric of society's tranquility and wellbeing, racial and economic.
Let us not kid ourselves: "anti-woke" is a term that appeals to racists, bigots, and even those who do not admit to themselves that they, too, are in tune with white nationalists. It is a sneer at the African American term "woke" for non-African Americans grasping the validity of their complaints about police brutality targeting Black people since the George Floyd summer. It is being used by DeSantis and others as "woke" is the cause of everything from crime to the deficit that is burdened by the Great Society-type programs. Being woke is an evil that must be stopped by the white people who constitute the bulk of the right-wing to which DeSantis must appeal to beat Trump in his quest for the presidency. The task of the more rational part of the GOP and Democrats is to turn "anti-woke" to the real evil and the implications for the future tranquility of the country that such appeal to racial divisions using such terms are a danger to our democracy.
The problem the GOP has if they take DeSantis' approach to its logical conclusions, even white people will suffer because they too have benefitted from early childhood education of Head Start, school lunch programs, Medicare, Medicaid,, food stamps, Obamacare, and Social Security funded in part or entirely by higher taxes on the rich. These past two weeks the GOP and even the most radical right of the GOP have had to make it clear that Medicare and Social Security were removed from their cutting block because, well, the blowback from so many of their loyal constituents objected. Now, the programs that some in the GOP want to cut are those that they think just benefit the poor because that is what is causing the federal debt and are paid for by the rich. That proposal is being advanced by Trump's former budget director, and in his manifesto, he uses the term "woke" 77 times. The Democrats can have their own attack on the use of "anti woke" by claiming the radical right of the GOP wants to turn the war on poverty into the war on the poor whatever their race. If the GOP wants to balance the budget and eliminate the federal debt so that the rich can be richer by paying fewer taxes, then make the poorer, less educated, and sicker by rolling anti-poverty measures back to 1960 that also benefit the middle class .and give the poor no chance and hope to become the middle class themselves.
The following data is also repeated in a 3/18/23 blog post. The unintended consequence of the "Anti-woke" advocates gaining steam in the GOP hurt their own white constituents who have also benefitted from such programs, including Obamacare ACA (5.3 million enrollees are White, 1.3 are African-American), food stamps (37% of users, the largest demographic, are White and 26% percent are African-American), Medicaid (39.5% of users are white while 19% are African-American), school lunch programs (no data per race available), and a set of benefits to women including choice (about half of the states do not protect, are hostile, or outlaw women's access to abortion). The irony is that 8 of the top ten states getting more in federal funds than they contribute to the US treasury are Republican or divided government dominated. . States Most Dependent on the Federal Government - 2022 Edition - SmartAsset Of states with the ten highest infant mortality rate, 8 are states dominated by Republicans or a divided government. Stats of the States - Infant Mortality (cdc.gov) in 2020. In 2023, 9 of the top 10 states with high maternal deaths are also in states governed by Republicans or divided government. Maternal Mortality Rate by State 2023 (worldpopulationreview.com). 6 of the 50 states with high maternal death rates are among the ones that have banned or nearly banned abortions, though three of those are being challenged in the courts. Six Months Post-Roe, 24 US States Have Banned Abortion or Are Likely to Do So: A Roundup | Guttmacher Institute
Aggregated data chart: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AsriObsZ8Lx-lk2MnXHxDgcKiPs7?e=0Nepe8
"Anti-woke" must be turned into a toxic term itself by Democrats, tying it to white nationalism, divisive racism, and an attack on the white middle class as well as the underserved of all races, with Whites the largest group of beneficiaries. It must be countered now before it gets more traction and can be framed as a war on the poor and middle class to benefit the rich as well as a war on human rights.
Here are the alarm bells that got my attention.DeSantis uses the term 'anti woke" in his cultural wars signing legislation that advances his policies causes a strong reaction from Black leaders and civil rights supporters:In face of DeSantis anti-woke rhetoric, Black leaders go back to ’60s (tampabay.com): DeSantis joined "anti woke" with traditional GOP claims Democrats are soft on crime..new slogans tied to an old strategy; crime is caused by woke: DeSantis Visits 3 States on Tour Meant to Show He Is Tough on Crime - The New York Times (nytimes.com) A former GOP Trump budget director, Russell Vought, proposes plan to eliminate programs that help the poor and middle class and mentions "woke" 77 times in his manifesto: Trump’s Former GOP Budget Director Pushes Plan That Would Slash Spending (yahoo.com)
New USDA Report Provides Picture of Who Participates in SNAP - Food Research & Action Center (frac.org)
Medicaid/CHIP enrollees share by ethnicity U.S. 2021 | Statista
aspe-oep-2022-race-ethnicity-marketplace.pdf (hhs.gov)
Abortion Laws by State - Center for Reproductive Rights
States Most Dependent on the Federal Government - 2022 Edition - SmartAsset
Stats of the States - Infant Mortality (cdc.gov)
Trifecta states: Governor and both houses of legislature of the same party
Partisan composition of state legislatures - Ballotpedia
Six Months Post-Roe, 24 US States Have Banned Abortion or Are Likely to Do So: A Roundup | Guttmacher Institute
