Woke Wars Episode 5: Why DeSantis wins with woke | Opinion

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has crafted the perfect enemy with “wokeism.”

It’s an ill-defined term, co-opted from Black communities by the GOP, that can stand in for just about anything the governor thinks will stir up voters. Mostly he has used it to attack vulnerable communities or fan the flame of small, everyday grievances into full-blown conflagrations. Under the umbrella of the anti-woke fight, a handful of objections to books in school libraries, for example, turns into a full review of every book on the shelf and the threat of a felony charge against teachers.

Florida’s governor is using the playbook of ex-President Donald Trump and expanding upon it. That’s because it works. As politicians have long known, angry voters are motivated to show up at the polls.

But wokeness isn’t something that people in the rest of the country necessarily think is bad — if they hold any opinion of it at all. That’s what a recent USAToday/Ipsos poll showed, which also indicated a divide along age lines. People over 50 were more likely to define woke as being “overly politically correct,” while younger people were less likely to see the word that way. And a majority, 56% of those surveyed, said the term means “to be informed, educated on and aware of social injustices” — a positive association.

That’s not for lack of trying on the part of Florida’s governor, who has taken a word with a long history in the Black community and turned it into a political weapon for the GOP. He’s not alone. Former South Carolina governor and current Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently called it a “virus.” Republicans seem to see the term as either something silly, threatening or simply incorrect, a symbol of all that is wrong with the left.

And yet many people, continue to use the term in a serious and heartfelt way, as this Vox story notes. Staying woke remains shorthand in Black communities for staying aware of systemic injustices or police brutality or racism. There’s a particular insult for Black and brown communities to see this word, which had been used in the context of survival, used to diminish their concerns.

So far, in Florida, DeSantis has found combating wokeism to be an effective political tactic. The question is, will that be the case in the rest of the country if he runs for president?

Woke Wars, a weekly opinion podcast by the Miami Herald Editorial Board, explores the culture wars that are dominating the Florida Legislature. Listen to new episodes every Thursday on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question? Want to share some feedback? Email heralded@miamiherald.com with the subject line WOKE WARS.

Read more perspectives on what is woke here:

• DeSantis hates ‘woke’, but his view may not play so well in the rest of America | Opinion

• Forget Trump vs. DeSantis. This is the battle that will shape conservatism’s future | Opinion

• DeSantis’ aides offer a glimpse of what ‘woke’ means to him. Resentment, mostly | Opinion

• ESG, dreaded in Florida, isn’t ‘woke,’ it’s business as usual — and that’s good | Opinion

• Americans want to know what Gov. DeSantis’ definition of ‘woke’ is. He’s not saying | Opinion

This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM.