Letter to the editor: Why is the term 'woke' seen as negative?

I don’t understand why the term “woke” is used in such a negative and mocking way. Acknowledging my own biases does not make me a terrible person. It makes me an educated person.

Understanding how my words and actions affect other people makes me respectful. Is that such a bad thing? Speaking out against discrimination and hate speech and advocating for the rights and dignity of ali people seems pretty basic if we're going to live in a civilized and just society.

At times, I feel like I'm stepping on pins and needles. Afraid to say the wrong thing. Or have someone take it the wrong way. Maybe they're taking what I'm saying out of context. Or I just say something stupid. None of us is perfect, and we all do it. If you say you don’t and feel that you're “perfectly woke,” you're not being honest with yourself.

This has nothing to do with politics. Maybe I should rephrase that. This has everything to do with politics. Democrats, independents, Republicans stop being so sensitive and worrying so much about getting your feelings hurt. If we all stop talking to each other because we don’t want to hear something we don't agree with, we will never make any progress or solve any of our issues and move this country forward.

All of us should just wake up, or we will no longer have a country.

Jeff Graber, Canton