AOC: Republicans Using ‘Woke’ as ‘Derogatory Euphemism for Civil Rights’

Ocasio-Cortez
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The open and proud socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared on Sunday that Republicans have been using wokeness as a means to distract Democrats from pursuing racial justice.

In a series of tweets, the congresswoman said that Democrats believing in a “woke problem” will hurt their chances for reelection because they “rely on the racial justice issue of voting rights.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (L) attends the 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021, in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

“One dangerous aspect of thinking there’s a ‘woke problem’ is that Dem chances for re-election or majorities in House, Senate, & WH rely on the racial justice issue of voting rights,” she tweeted. “Dems distancing from racial justice makes protection of voting rights less likely, ensuring losses.”

According to AOC, the term “woke” has been appropriated by Republicans as a “derogatory euphemism for civil rights & justice,” charging that Fox News not only serves to indoctrinate right-wingers but also to trick Democrats into believing that racial justice is “controversial.”

“‘Woke’ is a term pundits are now using as a derogatory euphemism for civil rights & justice. Making up a ‘woke’ problem results in putting civil & voting rights on the backburner,” she tweeted. “In a year state legislatures are planning out GOP majorities & voter suppression, that’s dangerous.”

“People think Fox News is just about indoctrinating right-wingers, but it’s also about conditioning Dems on what to run away from,” she concluded. “Framing racial justice as ‘controversial’ is key to delaying the protection of voting rights (& others) until it’s too late. We shouldn’t indulge it.”

AOC waded into woke apologetics over the weekend when she publicly bashed Democratic strategist James Carville for arguing that “stupid wokeness” cost the Democrats in multiple elections last Tuesday, from Virginia to New Jersey to Seattle.

“[W]hat went wrong is just stupid wokeness,” said Carville. “Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Wash. I mean, this ‘defund the police’ lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools. I mean that — people see that.”

“It’s just really — has a suppressive effect all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a ‘woke’ detox center or something,” Carville continued. “They’re expressing a language that people just don’t use, and there’s backlash and a frustration at that.”

AOC then charged Carville was merely repeating talking points straight from the echo chamber of Fox News.

“Like the average audience for people seriously using the word ‘woke’ in a 2021 political discussion are James Carville and Fox News pundits so that should tell you all you need to know,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Friday.

“And before people disingenuously complain ‘woke’ is denigrating to older people, it’s actually pundits like Carville using terms like ‘woke’ to insult voters under 45 that’s denigrating,” she later added. “Don’t wonder why youth turnout falls when Dems talk about them like this. We need everyone.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.