Erykah Badu attacks right-wing use of “woke”: “It doesn’t belong to us anymore”
In a recent interview, Erykah Badu discussed the use of “woke” by right-wingers. William Melvin Kelley coined the term in the 1960s, though it only came into mainstream usage in the late ’00s, partly because of Badu’s use of the word on social media.
“I tweeted it about this group that was detained, Pussy Riot,” Badu told MSNBC. “I said ‘free Pussy Riot’… After that, ‘woke’ took off.” Badu went on to discuss the idea that the term has since been co-opted by the right-wing. “I think they mean ‘Black.’ Yeah,” she said. “That’s just another way to say ‘thug,’ or something else, right?”
Badu added: “It is what it is, it doesn’t belong to us anymore. And once something goes out into the world, it takes a life of its own. It has an energy of its own. I can tell you what ‘woke’ means. It means being aware, being in alignment with nature.”
“It’s not only in the political arena,” she concluded. “That means with your health, that means in your relationships, that means in your home, that means in your car, that means in your sleep.”
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