Megan Guzman, Opinions Editor 

In the past week, President Donald Trump and his new administration began systematically dismantling federal policies and resources related to “DEI” through an executive order ending “radical” federal programs. This includes removing information from the CDC’s website about the AIDS epidemic changing the state department’s travel advisory for LGBTQI+ travelers to LGB travelers, and terminating federal positions dealing with environmental justice. Trump’s executive order follows a pattern on the political right that targets initiatives, movements, and policies advocating for increased equity for minoritized populations and deeming anything that mentions the existence of racism, sexism, or homophobia a symptom of the “woke mind virus.” These trends signal an end to wokeness being synonymous with coolness in the popular media landscape, emboldening social media users to repopularize slurs, like the r word, and freely target random women online with threats of violence and sexual assault.   

The term “woke” originated in black communities responding to racial violence, often at the hands of police, and entered the popular lexicon in 2014 following the murder of Michael Brown. To be “woke” is to be aware of racial injustice, systemic inequality, and became synonymous with Leftist politics. As various political groups co-opted this term, conservatives often associate “wokeness” with political correctness and an overextension of social policing, giving the term a bipartisan spin. 

If someone calls you “woke” in 2025, they most likely mean it as an insult. You are too concerned with identity politics or language, and you should just let people joke and have fun. Labelling someone as “too woke” is often a rebuttal to criticism of someone saying something racist, sexist, ableist, or homophobic. Even some on the left want to embrace “anti-wokeness” to combat moral purity attributed to leftist circles. These leftists also use slurs and deride wokeness because they feel that leftist communities, particularly online, are devoid of comedy.  

However, a general awareness of systemic injustice and attention to language both keep communities accountable and inclusive. The resurgence of casually offensive language normalizes the more extreme versions from the right. Saying misogynistic jokes or promoting stereotypically racist assumptions only serves to bolster the foundational ideas of anti-DEI policies. This normalization impacts the material lives of a wide variety of people who benefit from programs that promote equity in jobs, housing, and federal funding. Veterans, disabled people, and people experiencing poverty benefit substantially from policies that promote job equity.  

Second-wave feminist slogan “the personal is political” succinctly describes how everyday actions inform and are informed by politics. Joking about autism with your friends and freely using “gay” as an insult normalizes the policies of extreme conservatives whose increasingly violent rhetoric targets the most marginalized. The one friend that’s too woke who criticizes your Starbucks usage or your frequent stops at Chick-fil-a might be annoying, but that doesn’t mean we must swing towards normalizing ableist language and excluding community members. “Wokeness” as political awareness remains prudent, especially in times where attacks on education, media, and inclusive programs abound.