Racism, the Woke Evil: Wokeism Needs Racism

Racism is the central theological pillar of Wokeism. The entire Woke utopia rests upon the ability to confront and transcend the all-pervasive racism that pollutes the entirety of society.

The American Spirit Essays #27

(continued from Racist Woke Antiracism)

Original Sin

To the Woke, racism is not merely the relabeling of “evil” in terms lacking theological connotations.  It is also the original sin that gave birth to America.  The Woke 1619 project dismisses 1776 as the founding date of America.  In its telling, the 1619 arrival of a slave ship birthed an America indelibly tainted with racism.  That assertion may be laughable as a matter of history, but it’s no less plausible than traditional stories explaining the pervasiveness of evil.  Though I’m loathe to challenge Biblical narratives, there is indeed greater empirical support for slave ships in 1619 than for a tree of knowledge, a talking snake, or the Garden of Eden.  Original sin is original sin.  Its stain remains even when the direct perpetrators have long since faded into memory. 

Some beliefs require faith, and it’s wrong for non-believers to insist that the faith of others conform to the contours of the historical record or boast empirical support.  The Woke are entitled to the same tolerance and indulgence we accord to other faiths.  Or at the very least, they will become entitled to it when they concede that theirs is a faith, and that much of what they profess requires faith to believe.  As long as they insist that their assertions rest upon factual and historical bases, we have every right to insist that they use standard definitions, long-accepted meanings, actual facts, and the historical record.  On those bases, the overwhelming majority of Woke assertions fall flat. 

All Americans can agree with the Woke that actual racism is evil.  After all, actual racism runs afoul of America’s most basic spiritual tenet, namely “that all men are created equal.”  Racism, however, is far from synonymous with evil.  The world, sadly, is overrun with evils that have nothing to do with race.  Contra intersectionality, many struggles are distinct.  Though all exploitation hinges upon the identification of difference, not all differences are equal.  In the history of America, race has been the most common distinction forwarded to justify discrimination.  In the history of the world, however, religion, tribe, and language have been far more common. 

Evil abounds, evil is real, and the ability to recognize evil appears to be a deep spiritual need.  The Woke, most of whom deny the entire realm of spirituality, and even more of whom have rejected the collected wisdom of the ages enshrined in mature faith traditions, had to find it somewhere.  They found it in sociology.  Because Wokeism needs racism, however, it cannot let the rest of us transcend it.  That’s why the most vocal of the Woke antiracists reject the teachings of Martin Luther King.