Woke is the new Christian Nationalist’s dog whistle

by A. Altieri D’Angelo

The title of this article includes words that need defining. Woke, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, “is being aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially racial and social justice".

Dictionary.com defines Woke as “having or marked by an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities”.
Christian Nationalist (CNs or Nationalists) consists of primarily white people who claim the U.S. is a Christian nation and its laws should therefore be rooted in Christian values. In U.S. politics, a “dog whistle is a coded message communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a particular group of people, but not by others”.

The United States strives (albeit unevenly and sometimes hesitantly) for equality; it holds that everyone is equal under the law. Therefore, when people are subjected to discrimination or have their rights threatened, the literal and true meaning of Woke demands people oppose such undemocratic practices. Woke is a concept fully grounded in democracy. 

The title of this article, however, sums up why Woke has become such a controversial concept.

The definition of Woke has been expanded and distorted by CNs. Woke to these people means an action word that calls for attacks on anyone who could be considered a progressive on racial identity and civil rights issues. Nationalists seek to push back, in every way, against people who protect and enhance the rights of marginalized people; or who do not share their Christian values.

Conservative politicians have used the CN definition of Woke to rally their conservative base. Former President Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis are leading the charge against Woke. DeSantis is building his political campaign for President by attacking Woke. He signed the Stop the Woke Act into law and stated that the Sunshine State (Florida) is "where Woke goes to die". 

The Stop the Woke Act is one of many laws passed by conservative states to prevent educators from teaching children anything that could highlight discrimination, prejudice, or related violence. The CN effort includes rewriting history books and eliminating education courses that could disparage America for its handling of minorities-particularly Black Americans. A typical example is the story of Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks was a black woman who helped initiate the American Civil Rights movement. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks was on a city-owned bus and told to move to the back. Blacks were forbidden to sit in the front. She refused and was arrested. Her defiance was a call to action to end segregation.
Florida is considering rewriting the history books used in their school system to say, "She was told to move to a different seat”.  There is no mention of segregation or that she was black.

Florida seeks to eliminate the importance of her action-opposing segregation. What an absurd and dangerous thing to do!

Anti-Woke attacks are not limited to education. Voting and abortion rights, and other issues, are also targets of the Nationalists.

CN's fear of losing power over American law, business, and culture drives this movement. They are seeing America becoming more diverse and less religious. But the loss of control is the thing that creates a frenzy among the Nationalists. People like Trump and DeSantis have heightened their fear. These politicians use the threat of losing influence to build an inherently anti-democratic political base.

CNs were America’s largest racial group in the U.S. They dominated federal, state, and local government; the same was true for American businesses. This group is currently a minority in the U.S.; they represent 42 percent of the U.S. population. The decline is most significant in the MAGA portion of the CN movement. There are far more baby boomers in this group than Generation Z members. The movement is not aging gracefully and should go quietly into the night, but they are desperate to cling to power.

(Many people under 30 are not affiliated with any religion; they are more inclusive, focused on climate change, and not rewriting U.S. history. Most of this unaffiliated group believes in protecting civil liberties).

CNs are angry. They refuse to accept they are a dwindling minority. They latch onto politicians like Trump/DeSantis, who talk about traditional values and the power the white race lost. They blame immigrants, elites, and Wokeness for the loss of status. They seek to reestablish white Christian supremacy. But the changeover to a more-brown America is unstoppable. Any attempt to impose religious views on the county’s culture or institute undemocratic laws will fail.

Conservative politicians, however, will continue to use Woke as a dog whistle; it is all they have to rally CNs.