The expression WOKE seems to enjoy the status of a hyper-jackal by many in the MAGA fan base and from starting as a request for awareness of inequalities in black or diverse communities it now has gained wide currency in the public debate.
What are my guessed observations, feelings, needs and requests behind this hyper-jackal?
I am interested in understanding what might be alive in this hyper-jackal “woke”.
Sample from the news today, August 22nd 2025:
The White House published a list of “woke” Smithsonian exhibits it objects to.
On the list: Exhibits dealing with issues like race and slavery — see examples here. Trump has said the museums are too focused on slavery. Our columnist made the opposite case.
(Washington Post, 22 August 2025)
The Post puts the word woke in parenthesis, probably wanting to alert us to the fact that this term might contain evaluations, which the Post may not share or – at any rate – to be careful in the use of this word.
The fact that the WHITE HOUSE publishes a list, wanting to correct a bias in the way a museum presents history, is in itself remarkable. In the past such institutions would be considered to be independent from government and make their own judgments about what and how they present things. They might get feedback – positive or negative – and then act as they see fit again, taking into account such feedback.
But the issues the White House point to make up a very important part of the mission of MAGA and many Republicans to bring their perspective on history and their country to the attention of everyone. My guess is: They do not agree with political decisions made in the past – and I think we can safely assume that they have felt not heard, not understand and not been taken serious by political decisions from the Biden or Obama administrations, or by laws passed by democratic politicans. I am guessing that must have been very painful, as they now act without empathy for democrats or people who support “woke” positions, that is, positions that focus on the needs of minorities and those who have been wronged or treated injust and cruel in the past.
Unmet needs for respect are probably the driving force behind the “revengeful” political battles led by the current Trump adminstration – battles against “liberals” and “liberal views” as they see it. I understand that this is an ESCALATION of violence, and I can see why. Democrats are also in pain – and unable to receive anything the Trump MAGA people are now doing and saying with empathy.
It comes from both sides – this overwhelm and this incapacity to hold everybody’s needs with care. The ultimate outcome of this can be civil war and physical violence. With Trump deploying military in cities we can see how close we are to this point already. He will use them on demonstrators. And this can escalate violence very fast – or it can end with the other side sinking into fear and passivity.
I believe it is beneficial to come to a place of enough inner peace before trying to address the difference that is playing out here within our society, the difference on how to tell the stories of our common past in a way that works for all.
Empathy first – for myself – as I wish to live in a world where differences are welcome and where nobody needs to fear to be treated with less dignity, based on any differences that people can show through their bodies, minds and actions. Empathy also for the violence I may experience, when time-tried institutions that safeguard democracy are being taken apart.
Empathy first – for the “anti-woke” stance as well. To offer understanding: “Were you shocked and disgusted, when you saw some policies by the Biden adminstration?” – and – “Would you have liked to be heard and understood, when lawmakers proposed to a same-sex marriage or the introduction of certain educational material in schools, concerning sexual orientation?”
Questions that demonstrate care and come from an honest curiosity and wish to connect.
To see if by speaking and hearing I can reach a point of feeling in my body the needs of those who differ in their position. These are also my needs – even if I do not agree with their concrete steps.
“As President Trump promised, the Trump Administration is committed to rooting out Woke and divisive ideology in our government and institutions,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an email. “Taxpayer money should not be used for things that pit Americans against one another. Our Smithsonian should exhibit history in an accurate, honest, and factual way.”
Do you wish history to be told in a way that unites?
Maybe I can feel the beauty of such a history, that unites people in my heart and in my body.
And maybe the person will confirm that this is their intention and that this is their deep need.
Unity – belonging – or whatever word captures this deep need best in the moment.
Or maybe it is about peace of good use of resources.
All of these needs are shared and can come alive in all of us.
And from that point I can then return to my own unmet needs. I can ask them if they can also hear me with understanding. Because I want to share some beauty, I think they might miss. The beauty of the needs that I feel when I connect with people who are living in a different way from many others, or who have capabilities that are different from those of most of us.
Marshall modelled a possible dialogue with a “racist” in a school setting here. Take some time to listen in and see how much skill it could take to not be swept away by emotions stimulated in such a dialogue.
The judgment “racist” is one of the many unhelpful terms we seem to be happy to use at times, unaware of how much damage such a term does to our chances that we get our needs met and how little it contributes to make this world a more inclusive and more respectful one. If you ever experienced HEARING such a jugment applied to you, you probably also did not feel overly joyful in that moment and maybe you just could keep those giraffe ears on.
But even someone who considers themselves to be a “racist” – gleefully – might not be on a path to fill their needs in a satisfactory way. I might feel included in a group of people enjoying to use violence on others, to feel the fear in people as a sense of power, or to get a sense of healing when seeing someone else suffer, the kind of empty healing the strategy of revenge can dangle in front of our hearts, when we are very deeply hurt.
The term woke evolved out of US universities and black communities, as far as I am aware. Critical race theory took a negative view of the achievments since the Civil Rights movement and proposed ways to bring more advances, more justice, more awareness. Intellectuals or activists coming from this awareness often used jackals – as we all do in our normal way of communication – in order to bring forward their needs. An example would be this writer and activist, Mrs. Robbin. Hard to keep your giraffe ears with such a stance and such a language. So here we can also see how the MAGA movement and those who are anti-woke might have heard the messages. As critisicm and as demands. Nothing very unusual. But now we end up with an authoritarian politician like Trump, who tries “Gleichschaltung” on universities and all sorts of cultural instituations in the USA.
That is where we are right now.