Affirming the term "woke" and its historical connection to Black history, Black liberation movements, and social justice.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1513 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1513

  Affirming the term ``woke'' and its historical connection to Black 
        history, Black liberation movements, and social justice.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 25, 2024

  Ms. Lee of California submitted the following resolution; which was 
       referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Affirming the term ``woke'' and its historical connection to Black 
        history, Black liberation movements, and social justice.

Whereas Black history is a critical aspect of United States history and has 
        shaped United States culture, including the evolution of language;
Whereas the words ``wake up'' and ``woke'' have served as a call to action as 
        conveyed by social activist Marcus Garvey who stated, ``Wake up 
        Ethiopia! Wake up Africa'', and the Negro Mine Workers who in 1940 
        issued the statement, ``We were asleep. But we will stay woke from now 
        on'', in advocating against discriminatory pay;
Whereas the term ``woke'' was first highlighted in the 1962 essay, ``If You're 
        Woke, You Dig It'', featured in the New York Times by Harlem-based 
        writer William Melvin Kelley, who documented the cultural appropriation 
        and distortion of language, resulting in certain idioms being abandoned 
        by their original Black creators;
Whereas the term ``woke'' has been similarly misused, as traditional media have 
        reframed ``woke'' as trendy new slang, eroding its cultural connection 
        and separating the term from its historical grounding in social justice;
Whereas, six decades later, right-wing extremists have engaged in a similar 
        exercise of cultural appropriation to weaponize and misdefine the term 
        ``woke'', as evidenced by the ``Stop W.O.K.E. Act'', specifically 
        targeting the teaching of United States history and Black educators; and
Whereas Black educators are more likely to teach subjects that incorporate an 
        inclusive view of history, and legislation like the End Woke Higher 
        Education Act threaten to undermine both diversity, equity, and 
        inclusion programs and nondiscrimination protections: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) affirms the term ``woke'' and its historical connection 
        to Black history, Black liberation movements, and social 
        justice;
            (2) encourages a historically accurate and correct use of 
        the term ``woke'' when its misuse is identified; and
            (3) condemns cultural appropriation, misuse of Black 
        idioms, and specific efforts to revise history and to distort 
        and redefine the specific term ``woke''.
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