When I was growing up in the Black community, woke simply meant a person who became more aware of our history and more socially conscious as a result. Others contend that social justice is a Marxist idea rooted in the false belief that we can establish a utopia on earth through human actions. The Book of Common Prayer defines the work of social justice as contending “fearlessly against evil and no peace with oppression and us use our freedom rightly in the establishment of justice in our communities and among the nations.” In this reading, social justice is the work of resisting evil and injustice where we discover it locally and nationally. Critics often use the term CRT broadly enough to include nearly all left-leaning discourse on race and injustice in the United States. Most scholars define critical race theory (CRT) as a legal movement examining how racism impacts laws, customs, and practices in the United States, despite the gains of the civil rights movement. Others think of systemic racism as the idea that all of society is irredeemably racist. To some, systemic racism means that discrimination exists in different social, political, and legal structures to varying degrees and intensities. People define these terms in radically different ways and use those definitions to distort the views of others. The words critical race theory, systemic racism, woke, and social justice are case studies in language confusion. This piece is the second installment in a two-part series on racial justice debates.

Reading while black by esau mccaulley