To me......being called 'woke' is a compliment

They are represented growstuff. The population of the UK has about fifteen per cent ethnic minorities and therefore it is not to be expected that government would be comprised of fifty per cent of ethnic minorities. Obviously groups in every area of life will be represented by approximately the percentage of ethnicities that are in the population as a whole.

I understand perfectly that there are different social classes in all ethnic groups. My husband taught in an independent school which had a large minority of ethnic pupils, many of whom did well academically. On the other hand, I taught in an inner city school which also catered for a large minority of ethnic pupils, many of whom did not do well academically although some did. The defining difference was clearly social class.

Of course the more affluent classes will produce children who have been able to achieve well in their education. This doesn’t mean we can dismiss these achievers as some sort of blip. The fact is that ethnic minorities are well represented in the UK in all the professions, and across all the levels of government across all the countries in the UK.

You won't here it from me Galaxy because I dislike identity politics.

Somebody from an ethnic background or a woman doesn't automatically have anything much in common with others from an ethnic minority or other women.

They're not represented in the Conservative Party.

Just because somebody has black or brown skin doesn't mean they have much in common with everybody else with black or brown skin.

They almost certainly have other characteristics in common with others in their party than the colour of their skin.

Do you think all white people are represented at the top of the legal profession because there are so many white barristers? How does an Oxbridge educated white person represent all white people? I wonder how many have any experience of being in receipt of benefits or having insecure accommodation. It's exactly the same for people with non-white skin. I actually hope that the colour of their skin is irrelevant.

I'm proud to be on the receiving end of Braverman's 'Wokerati, Guardian reading, tofu eating' rant. Such lazy rhetoric.

So yes, it's a compliment.

I actually hope that the colour of their skin is irrelevant.

Me too. I don’t care what colour skin my doctor, nurse, dentist, MP, lawyer (should I need one) teacher, delivery driver, cook (in a restaurant) shop assistant, or for that matter, anyone else has.

Callistemon21, Doodledog, Maddyone, MerylStreep,*so many well put posts on what *woke means or can be used to mean.
Gagajo
I see the other side too as a white person, because my family are of colour. I literally fear for my brown-skinned grandson growing up because I know what he's got coming. And he's an amazing kid.
True. My nephew (Db’s son) faces the same problems both in the UK and in Germany. No matter how clever, or well behaved, he’s still brown.

However, when I was teaching, the LA required the results of all children in the school, and also required, the results of all ethnic children, and then the results of all the different ethnicities. I assume this was to ascertain that children of ethnic parents were achieving as well as their white counterparts.
In my husband’s school many of the ethnic children achieved better than their white counterparts, but not in my school. In my school, they were about the same.

Thanks Molly.

Kandinsky

Honestly, you’d think people weren’t aware of social injustice before this word came out of America a few years ago.
But if being called this new term makes people happier then great.

It came out of America a lot earlier.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrXfkPViFIE

... at around 4.29m Leadbelly advises to "stay woke". I first heard this on a recording around the 1960s. Can't remember the record label.

biglouis

To me "wokery" has become intertwined with lots of rubbish about pulling down statues and people of my generation being made to feel they should apologize for what their grandparents did in the empire, as well as white privilage. My parents did not feel very privilaged in their tiny two up two down with no bathroom and Ive done more than my share for society so I have no patience with all this trendy garbage.

I totally agree with you biglouis

As has been said a few times - it was 1938 that Leadbelly used the word ‘woke’

I'm glad people are proud to bear the label "woke" if that makes them feel happy. They come from a very good starting point.
Often though, when woke people are encountered, especially online, they are so vociferous and unkind to others who don't get it, that everything they are supposed to stand for [being nice to other people] gets lost.

I agree that it is social class that is the defining difference in education, I suppose that pupil premium aims to address that, I think PP was potentially one of the most groundbreaking strategies introduced in a long time, but it falls short in ways that are hard to describe. Perhaps it was asking too much of one strategy.

Shanie

I'm glad people are proud to bear the label "woke" if that makes them feel happy. They come from a very good starting point.
Often though, when woke people are encountered, especially online, they are so vociferous and unkind to others who don't get it, that everything they are supposed to stand for [being nice to other people] gets lost.

I think this is true. Being conscious of the struggles of groups that matter to you doesn’t make you a good person, despite the protestations of those who want to divide the world into good or bad, based on how far they agree with their own point of view.

Also, being aware of the problems faced by one group doesn’t mean that people are automatically as concerned for those of others. It is perfectly possible to have a black rights activist who is sexist, or a feminist racist, for instance.

As has been said a few times - it was 1938 that Leadbelly used the word ‘woke’

I’d never heard of the word ( used in the context we’re talking about ) until about 3 years ago.
I very much doubt anyone on this thread was calling themselves ‘woke’ in the 70’s or 80’s.

volver3

No Curtaintwister, it has been hijacked by those who think they are having an ideology imposed on them, and by those who want to exploit that fear.

That's different.

Absolutely agree with you.

No, it wasn’t in common usage then Kandinsky, you might want to listen to the history of the word which I posted a link to

Happy to be called woke ... instead of gammon!

Oh god, I really hate ‘gammon’.
It’s so ageist.
James OBrien used to used it all the time, he seems to have stopped now, thank goodness.

And before anyone says anything, it was first used by Dickens.
(And ‘gammon’ wasn’t used in that context in the 70s or 80s either)

What does gammon mean?
I always thought it was a piece of bacon, thick sliced, and served with pineapple.

An old, white Tory. Usually used in relation to Brexit and rascists

Kandinsky

Honestly, you’d think people weren’t aware of social injustice before this word came out of America a few years ago.
But if being called this new term makes people happier then great.

Agreed😄
Tho there’s some real nonsense wokery in amongst the sensible sense of social injustice as well and now so entwined that anyone in the public eye dare hardly say anything.

FannyCornforth

As has been said a few times - it was 1938 that Leadbelly used the word ‘woke’

How many people though have even heard of Leadbelly?

It was only because I’d listened to Matthew Syed thing that I heard of him too.