No, AOC: “Woke” Wasn’t “Crazy” the Way You Say It Was

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) quipped on Sunday that "woke 1" was crazy, not mocking the empty gestures of her colleagues, but responding to a question about whether Democrats, herself included, still stood by their past positions of defunding the police or if they went "too far." Ocasio-Cortez dismissed the idea of defunding police as a part of "crazy" "woke 1," but acknowledged that during the Covid pandemic, there was a "huge opening of the Overton Window" on policy considerations and that the discussions during that time were "quite fruitful."

She also noted that the way we talk about crime has changed. While certain "woke" tendencies may have hurt the project of building a powerful multiracial, working-class left, there is no doubt that the 2020 uprisings were a powerful and righteous response to a racist, necropolitical order. Despite the backlash from white supremacist groups, the uprisings demonstrated that there is a significant public demand to abolish the armed forces maintaining this racist order or at least redirect tax dollars to housing, healthcare, and education.

The facts about U.S. policing and prisons have not changed since the heady years of so-called "woke 1," and the mythic alignment of policing with public safety remains unquestioned despite ample evidence to the contrary.