Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and City Councilman Chi Ossé Reframe 2020 'Woke' Rhetoric as 'Crazy'
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in a recent ABC News interview, referenced New York City Councilman Chi Ossé's statement that 'Woke 1 was crazyyyy,' in a discussion about the social justice movements of 2020. This term, 'Woke 1,' is being used to characterize the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests following George Floyd's murder, which popularized concepts like abolishing prisons and defunding the police. Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged a 'huge opening of the Overton Window' during 2020 and described the discussions as 'quite fruitful,' but concluded that the rhetoric from that time is not what would be used today. This re-evaluation has drawn attention from centrists and conservatives, who interpret it as an admission that the left's positions in 2020 were extreme. The original meaning of 'woke,' pertaining to the recognition of racist structures affecting Black life in the U.S., has been widely caricatured into a symbol of political correctness.