It’s a word I couldn’t get my head around. Now I see it more clearly.
“Woke just means you give a damn about other people.” — Jane Fonda, 2025
In simple terms, Fonda is reclaiming the word “woke.”
Originally, woke meant being alert to social injustice—particularly racism and inequality. In recent years, however, it has also become a political insult, used to describe people or ideas seen as excessively progressive.
Fonda’s point is essentially:
If being “woke” means caring about how other people are treated, then she is happy to be called woke.
Thank you, Jane Fonda!
My way of understanding “woke” is to explain it to myself using clear step-by-step points:
- I am interested in social justice.
- I’m in the corner of those who are racially stigmatised.
- I’m concerned about sections of society who do not value equality.
- I abhor ultra-right influencers who tell me I am too liberal.
- They sometimes go as far as saying I am “woke”.
- It’s their cunning way of insulting me just because I care enough about others.
I see it more clearly now! Jane Fonda is right. I refuse to hear the word “woke” as an insult.
I do understand and accept that it’s original meaning was positive — being alert to social injustice.
Final Thought:
In years past, it took a village to raise a child. Nowadays, it takes a more diverse village to do the same.
