By Jocelyn Jackson Williams | OBSERVER Columnist

I have felt like I am in a Christian twilight zone for years now: a dimension where basic precepts of the faith such as love, care, and support are not acknowledged or demonstrated in conjunction with the particular injustices that Black folks face.  

I understand that this is nothing new.  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to this issue in his Letter from Birmingham Jail.  The call in Dr. King’s open letter was to appeal to his white colleagues in the faith that they would see, acknowledge and empathize with the realities of injustice that Black people face in this country.  It has been over 50 years since he wrote that letter and yet here we are just as distanced in the body of Christ.  I am deeply grieved by the fact that there are many people who are in name my brother or sister in Christ, but in spirit think or behave more like my enemy. 

One of the most cringeworthy examples of this divide in recent years is the usage of the word “woke” as a pejorative by non-Black pastors.  The word “woke” was created by and intended for Black people.  Within the community, the purpose of staying woke is rooted in unresolved grief.  When someone struggles with an injustice that has no immediate resolution, the temptation exists to numb yourself so you don’t have to feel the effects of the pain and disappointment.  Staying “woke” is a call to remain vigilant in addressing what is still unresolved.

 And yet, the term “woke” has been reappropriated by a particular socio-political sect within the church.  The misuse of the term convolutes its connection to the Black community.  One preacher uses it to refer to children being subjected to an immoral society.  Another pastor uses it to refer to the ills of “cancel culture,” when you do not support the ideology of said immoral society.  But I do not hear them using it, as originally intended, as a cry for reform of any system that perpetuates injustice.  Every time a white pastor uses the word woke, he or she is contributing to a framework that invalidates realities of our everyday life and propagates a system within the church that allows white evangelicals to determine what the Black experience actually is.

There is no one conclusive definition of the word since its recent colonization. But if you can control the language, you can control the narrative.  So many people try.  

A little over a year ago, a conservative Christian wrote a book in which she spent an entire chapter attempting to define the word “woke” but struggling to do so.  While on the interview circuit, she found herself confused when trying to articulate her reappropriation.  Her blunder was not an anomaly; it was indicative of the subterfuge some people engage in to distance themselves from the call of justice.   

Common in the evangelical church is to turn a blind eye to, if not altogether deny, the existence of racism.  To do so is to align yourself more closely to the goals of white supremacy than to the gospel of Christ.  In his book, “Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice,” Dr. Eric Mason aims to realign to the origin and purposes of being “woke” to:

  • “to understand that the issue of justice is not a Black issue, it’s a kingdom issue”
  • “to grieve and lament what we have lost and…remember our gospel imperative to promote justice and mercy”
  • “to move beyond polite, safe conversations about reconciliation and begin to set things aright for our soon-coming King”

We are circling around the same block that Dr. King wrote about in his letter.  I offer the opportunity for every white Pastor who uses the term “woke” outside of its true meaning to charter a new path.  Engage in the work of fellowship with your Black brothers and sisters in Christ to be curious enough about our lives to fully understand what it is when we say there is need for justice.  Instead of using your weekly platform to deny us, use your heart, mind, and soul to address the same concerns that Dr. King brought to light in his Birmingham letter which were the same concerns that Jesus shared with religious leaders: that we would be about the business of loving, supporting, and strengthening one another.  There is an arena outside of this twilight zone where we can exist together.  Let’s find it and go there instead.