MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart welcomed correspondent and podcaster Trymaine Lee to his Wednesday program to preview the GOP debate by focusing on the word “woke,” and how according to one of Lee’s guests, Republicans have turned it into “another way of saying black” or “the N-word.”
Kicking things off, Diaz-Balart declared that “when the Republican presidential candidates take the stage in Milwaukee there’s one word voters should expect to hear: “woke.”
He then introduced Lee and asked, “The word “’woke’ means so many different things to different people. Where’s it come from?
Lee relayed that, “for generations the term “woke” was a part of black American inspeak, it meant to keep your eyes open, stay aware to the forces that might be around you that might want to cause you harm, be vigilant, but in recent years it’s been co-opted, some would say hijacked by far right-wing conservatives and turned into anything, but a feeling of awareness or awareness.”
Transitioning into a pre-recorded report, viewers were then treated to a montage of GOP presidential candidates and Fox’s David Asman condemning wokeism as well as a voice over of Lee lamenting “by now you’ve probably heard it. Over… and over… and over again.”
Lee also lamented, “Woke has become a charged political catch-all phrase, often used as a battering ram and battle cry and to many a slur.”
For the pre-recorded video, Lee interviewed two people—one man and one woman— who were never identified either in a voiceover or by MSNBC’s chyron. The woman declared that, “It's almost another way of saying black. It is another way of saying the N-word.”
The man added, “They weaponized the civil rights movement and said it was a communist movement.”
After a history lesson on blues singer Lead Billy’s use of the word in a song about the Scottsboro Boys and Spike Lee’s School Days Lee turned to the efforts of “neo-soul artist Erykah Badu after the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and in 2020, woke crossed over from black culture to the mainstream, following the murder of George Floyd.”
Because this was a segment attacking Republicans, the truth behind Michael Brown’s case was not discussed. Instead, Lee added, “Today woke has become an ideological lightning rod and dividing line, a warhead in the latest culture wars.”
The recorded portion of the segment ended with the man claiming that Republicans “mean it as a slur” and peddled the false charge that Republicans oppose accurate history lessons in schools, “but the people who are for these policies, for these specific goals, who think that I want my children to learn about the history of this country and not just the white history of this country, that's not a slur to me.”
Back in studio, Lee concluded, “Jose, there is concern that even though the term has become everything and nothing at once, that it's not just the punch line, it is actually fueling policy that is hostile to the very people and very communities that created this term in the first place. That now it’s been hijacked, weaponized and turned against them, Jose.”
The network that can’t even define “woman” is worried about the definition of “woke.” At the same time, they won’t even put a name to their outlandish accusations that Republicans are using the word as a synonym for the N-word.
This segment was sponsored by ClearChoice.
Here is a transcript for the August 23 show:
MSNBC Jose Diaz-Balart Reports
8/23/2023
11:44 PM ET
JOSE-DIAZ BALART: We're going to talk a little bit now about the debate tonight, when the Republican presidential candidates take the stage in Milwaukee there’s one word voters should expect to hear: “woke.” MSNBC's Trymaine Lee is with us this morning. Trymaine, great seeing you. The word “woke” means so many different things to different people. Where’s it come from?
TRYMAINE LEE: That's right, Jose. Well, for generations the term “woke” was a part of black American inspeak, it meant to keep your eyes open, stay aware to the forces that might be around you that might want to cause you harm, be vigilant, but in recent years it’s been co-opted, some would say hijacked by far right-wing conservatives and turned into anything, but a feeling of awareness or awareness. Take a look.
RON DESANTIS: And I think –
LEE: By now you’ve probably heard it.
DESANTIS: Woke ideology.
NIKKI HALEY: Weak and woke.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Wokeism.
LEE: Over –
DONALD TRUMP: Woke lunacy.
LEE: And over –
DAVID ASMAN: Woke beliefs and policies.
LEE: -- And over again. Woke has become a charged political catch-all phrase, often used as a battering ram and battle cry and to many a slur.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's almost another way of saying black. It is another way of saying the N-word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They weaponized the civil rights movement and said it was a communist movement.
LEE: Before it was a pejorative, woke was about black safety and empowerment. In the early 20th century, when Jim Crow had its grip on America, white supremacist danger and violence was a constant threat. So black folks had to keep their eyes open, literally and figuratively. They had to stay woke.
What’s the real actual definition of the term woke?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is to be awake to what's happening around you, particularly when it comes to systemic injustice.
LEE: The roots of woke run deep, to the heart of black America's fight for equality. In the 1930s, blues man Huddie Ledbetter, A.K.A. Lead Billy penned a protest song in honor of the Scottsboro Boys, group of black teens falsely accused in Alabama of raping two white women.
HUDDIE LEDBETTER: I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there… stay woke, keep your eyes open.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since then it has become part of the cultural lexicon and that's what it's always meant to black people for almost 100 years now.
LEE: By the late '80s, woke was showing up in black art, like Spike Lee's classic film School Days and later giving new electricity by neo-soul artist Erykah Badu after the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and in 2020, woke crossed over from black culture to the mainstream, following the murder of George Floyd.
PROTESTORS: No justice, no peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one is talking about woke as much as we have in the past two years, right? This was inspeak in the black community. I think there is a lot of terror in seeing what was happening in 2020, seeing the multiracial, multiethnic coalitions of people who really rallied around, like, understanding more about anti-blackness, understanding more about systemic racism.
LEE: Today woke has become an ideological lightning rod and dividing line, a warhead in the latest culture wars.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once it became a political football, particularly as we see with the GOP, it seemed like a mass message went out. Wokeness is what we're targeting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They mean it as a slur, but the people who are for these policies, for these specific goals, who think that I want my children to learn about the history of this country and not just the white history of this country, that's not a slur to me. And if you call it woke or whatever you call it, I am proud of representing those things and I want them in policy.
LEE: Jose, there is concern that even though the term has become everything and nothing at once, that it's not just the punch line, it is actually fueling policy that is hostile to the very people and very communities that created this term in the first place. That now it’s been hijacked, weaponized and turned against them, Jose.
