By disparaging 2020 protests as ‘Woke 1’, liberals are following the rightwing’s lead

As the year 2021 rolls in, prominent liberal voices are grappling with a controversial term that has been used to denigrate the social justice movement that emerged in the wake of the 2020 protests against state-sanctioned killings of Black people. The term "Woke 1" has become a point of contention as liberals reflect on the past year with a sense of disappointment.

On a recent appearance on ABC's This Week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the US congresswoman from New York and a democratic socialist, was asked about the demands to abolish prisons and police that were central to the 2020 uprising. Ocasio-Cortez, who previously supported the "defund the police" movement, now dismissed it with a sarcastic remark: "Woke 1 was crazyyyyy." She implied that the calls for municipalities to reduce police budgets and divert aid to poor communities were once valid, but are now deemed ridiculous.

In the past, Ocasio-Cortez had articulated that "a lot of people cannot fathom what an abolitionist America looks like. Tell them it looks like a suburb. Affluent white communities already live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing more than they fund police." However, it appears that she has since retracted this statement.

This shift in her stance highlights the complex and evolving nature of the conversation around police reform and the role of marginalized communities in shaping a more equitable society.