thekennethwest |

What It Means To Be Woke

Woke people are considerate conscious humans dedicated to the cause of humanity. They know and understand that this consideration goes beyond their person, family, community, identity, racial or political identification. They are people willing to speak up, speak out and stand against censorship, xenophobia, racism, sexism, classism and every other form of isms that plagues the human family. They believe in a woman’s right to make her own decisions concerning the most intimate details of her body. And that what consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes is their business.

Because woke people like people: rich, poor, black, white, educated, uneducated, citizens or not. They are willing to join forces, network, and communicate with other hope-filled, freedom-loving, progressive people the world over. People who are equally dedicated to reducing the gap between the haves and have-nots and to a more just existence between human beings of all colors and creeds.

Woke people know there are good people in this world, who believe in people over profits. They believe that human beings should be treated with dignity and respect because the best among us has some bad in them, just as the worst has some good. Woke people also know that when the good people of world stay quiet, the voices of hatred and prejudice carry the day, but because we Woke we refuse to allow that. So the question is: are you Woke? Or still asleep?

painting of an African woman inside the shape of the continent of Africa

The majority of the incarcerated here in Texas prisons tend to fall into one or two categories politically: the apolitical; and the overtly political, NPR, 24 hour cable news junkies.

In the interest of full disclosure I’ll readily admit to being part of the latter. And from what I gather from friends and family this divide exists out in society as well: some people could care less, and for others it’s all they talk about. One of my pen-pals told me she had take a online hiatus when it seemed that politics was all people wanted to talk about.

For many of my non-political friends their argument is that whatever happens in D.C. doesn’t directly effect their immediate lives. More often than not most of their concerns revolve around living conditions, commissary prices, parole issues, or health and family related. While I tend to agree with them, that doesn’t stop me from consuming every Sunday morning news show, countless hours of political podcast, or reading every AP political news article I can.

To me it matters, and recently I had an experience that reinforced my belief that what happens in D.C doesn’t just effect Wall Street, but every American, even the prison population. As an artist I signed up to be part of a group art show being held by a local state college. I’ve been told that a lot of my work is overtly political, with some even finding it offensive. Honestly, I feel this is a natural consequence of my being a Black man, sentenced to life in prison at the tender age of 20, in a former slave holding state – where the guards wear the same color uniforms as Confederate soldiers, and where the first prisons were built on former slave plantations.

One of my submissions to the art show was of a black teddy bear with a DEI T-Shirt on strapped down to a black canvas. The name of the piece was “Strung Up” and it’s about the current predicament so many BIPOC find themselves in under the current administration. The title is also a reference to the thousands of black men who were lynched in this country, many of them right here in Texas.

Unfortunately this particular piece set off the alarm bells, and I was informed by the facilitator, that while they didn’t personally have a problem with it, as a publically-funded institution in a conservative state they had to be mindful of the current political climate, and how it could negatively effect them. Translation: they didn’t want to be the next Columbia or Harvard.

I find it saddening that a country that has long been considered a bastion of free speech and first amendment rights has entered into such a space. But I get it, and probably would’ve made the same decision if my livelihood and paycheck depended on it. This experience has become my answer to those who think I watch too much news. What happens in D.C, or better yet who is in power, effects every American, even prisoners.