I recently posted this on Twitter:
Yesterday, I received this response: “What do you mean woke tricks?”
I thought this was a great question, and I thought I’d respond in a blog so I can clearly and properly thread out what I call “woke tricks.”
Defining Our Terms
It may be helpful to separately define the terms "woke" and “tricks.” According to Oxford, "woke" means, "Alert to injustice in society, especially racism." And "trick” is defined as, “a cunning or skillful act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit someone.”
Putting the definition of these two words together, here’s my definition of “woke tricks”:
“Woke tricks” are skillful and cunning procedures or practices meant to deceive or defraud individuals based on issues of racial and/or social injustices within a society.
7 Common Woke Tricks
To bring clarity to this definition, let me offer the following seven examples of commonly used woke tricks:
1. You are shamed, blamed or called names like “racist” or “fragile” for injustices you had no part in.
2. Words like “justice,” “oppressed,” and “marginalized” are poorly defined or defined from a secular worldview.
3. Christian "Social Justice Warriors' and/or racial reconciliation experts call for unity among believers, but when the unity is not met according to their methods (not Scripture), they promote leaving the conversation of unity, altogether...in the name of unity. See this recent article on the Witness web site as an example.
4. Being told that people or people groups are not monolithic but then given every reason why all people within their distinct groups are exactly the same.
In White Fragility, we read, “When I talk to White people about racism, their responses are so predictable I sometimes feel as though we are all reciting lines from a shared script.” (pg. 9)
5. When disputing claims or accusations of being racist, you are told that you “just can’t see it” because you are “too fragile” and/or “conditioned to be racist” by the larger society.
Referring to White people, DiAngelo writes, “Socialized into a deeply internalized sense of superiority that we [White people] either are unaware of or can never admit to ourselves, we become highly fragile in conversations about race. We consider a challenge to our racial worldviews as a challenge to our very identities as good, moral people.” (White Fragility, pg. 2)
In How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, we see a similar idea. He writes, “Before and after the Civil War, before and after civil rights, before and after the first Black presidency, the White consciousness duels. The White body defines the American body. The White body segregates the Black body from the American body. The White body instructs the Black body to assimilate into the American body.” (How to Be an Antiracist, p. 33). Again, the idea is that people and their groups are not monolithic, but the antiracist experts continuously organize people and their groups together.
6. Antiracism experts insist that you “lift Black voices,” while they continuously platform Robin DiAngelo, Tim Wise, Peggy McIntosh, Jennifer Harvey, and Jen Hatmaker (who are all White), yet refuse to acknowledge, and even verbally belittle, the likes of Thomas Sowell, Sam Sey, Obianuju Ekeocha, Virgil Walker, Candace Owens, Carol Swain, Coleman Hughes, and yes, even yours truly. Remember, the goal is to “lift” black voices….well, as long as they follow the “woke” narrative.
7. Your conversations about racism suddenly turn to conversations about injustices of every kind against every person deemed marginalized or oppressed. For example, you are concerned about racism and unity in your community and are told that to truly care about racism you must also care about the plight of those who identify as LGBTQ+, sex offenders, gamblers, etc. Injustice becomes lumped together and you can’t care about justice for one group unless you care about justice for all groups. If you don’t care about justice for all groups then you aren’t doing enough….and you’re probably racist.
The Purpose Behind Woke Tricks
Woke tricks are designed to manipulate people, especially White people, to feel guilty about past, present, and future injustices. Woke tricks include the manipulation of statistics to gain the emotional high ground of its intended audience or victims. The shifting of the definitions of words, taking Scripture out of context to prove a “woke” point (ie: Micah 6:8 and 2 Cor. 5:18), shaming people when they don’t agree with a woke narrative and kicking people out of the tribe.
Woke tricks have an impact on us all. I’ve fallen prey to them as well. Honestly, as a Black woman, I have considered and re-considered several times if using my voice this way (against the woke narrative) is right and if I’m going against “my people.” I’m thankful for others who rally around me to remind me of the importance of Scripture and truth. And that is what I want to remind you of: Woke tricks are exactly that, tricks, not truth. As Christians, we pursue truth, and we will use our voice to speak out against biblical injustice, but we will do it first from the position of truth. Tricks are for kids.