The mystery of wokeness

A chapter in the history of political virtualism

As Aja Romano puts it her history of wokeness, the term woke had three original meanings in the Black communities where it was invented:

(1) slang for being literally awake;

(2) a related meaning of being suspicious of a cheating romantic partner;

(3) a related usage of always being on the lookout for systemic injustice.

After Ferguson, woke took on the mea…