In the Wake of Juneteenth

 Yesterday was Juneteenth. I hope that everyone had a safe and reflective holiday. I think holidays are, in general, moments that compel reflection, and this holiday really calls for that as we consider African-American history, including the contributions Black folks have made to the U.S. and the world as well as the obstacles Black folks have faced and continue to face.

Holidays carry a lot of symbolic weight, and as someone who studies culture and rhetoric, I’m continually going to assert that that symbolic weight matters. At the same, I recognize that it’s important that celebrating symbolic significance not drown out efforts to produce practical social, political, and economic change. Additionally, it’s important that we not act as if one form of symbolic significance absolves us from having to address other forms of it.

With that in mind, I’m struck by the juxtaposition I have been experiencing this week as I have seen commemorations of Juneteenth while also feeling bombarded by media stories about “wokeness” in what are egregious misappropriations of the term. Being “woke” is a practice that originates in Black folks becoming aware of the depths of racism and inequity. Historically, it’s not the kinds of associations with anything deemed politically liberal or progressive that now permeate popular discourse. It’s not just about whom Hollywood casts in what parts or what kinds of comments will solicit critique or whatever people mean when they refer to that nebulous thing they label “cancel culture.” Certainly, the politics of representation and discussion of the merits of particular comment people make matter, but contemporary uses of the term “woke” pay a disservice to the word’s important origins. Current popular iterations of the word, which I have seen deployed by folks who define themselves on the political left as well as the political right, erase the deep interest in racial awareness from which the term emanated. In this process, this misappropriation limits discourse in ways that prevent reflection on the systematic and structural conditions that perpetuate racism and inequity. As such, our society would do well to look back on the term’s origins and refrain from using it in ways that diverge so widely from what it was intended to mean.

With that in mind, I hope that as part of the reflectiveness of Juneteenth as we move forward in our calendar, we all might reflect on how we and other folks use the term “woke” and we might take two specific actions: (1) ceasing to use the word in ways that erase its history of calling attention to racism and inequity and (2) calling out other folks and institutions when they use the word in ways that create such erasure.

Wide Right

The phrase "wide right" is affiliated with the Buffalo Bills, not the Kansas City Chiefs, though during the most recent NFL playoffs, "Wide Right Part 2" happened while the Bills were playing Kansas City. Still, the phrase might be considered an approporiate characterization of the commencement speech Chiefs' kicker Harrison Butker gave to the Spring 2024 graduating class at Benedictine College. That speech espoused opinions about, among other things, women, LGBTQ folks, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and President Biden that fall significantly on the right of the current U.S. political spectrum.

Butker claimed his speech to be a reflection of his Catholic values, and he doubled down on that with more recent remarks in Nashville. As Butker stated in Nashville, "If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now," referring to the criticisms his commencement speech has garnered since he gave it. His phrasing in that statement reflects the broader theme he invoked, suggesting that he has been subjected to, as he put it, "a shocking level of hate." Comparing himself to Daniel from the Christian Bible, he has depicted himself as a courageous martyr who, along with similarly minded folks, is propelled by "our love for Jesus and thus our desire to speak out."

I was raised Catholic, and I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. I am no longer a practicing Catholic, as my theological views, which I have discussed to some degree on this blog, do not correspond with what Christianity professes. However, I have read the Catholic Bible from cover to cover twice, and I have read most sections of the Gospels in the New Testament more than that. I still have what in many ways is a Catholic-informed view of the world, and I find value in many of the ideas I attribute to Jesus based on my readings of the Bible. From that perspective, I find Butker's views inconsistent with his proclaimed "love for Jesus." Jesus, as I understand him, encouraged the greater participation of women in public life, embraced diversity, and promoted inclusion (and he may even have been gay). 

I used to get pretty angry when I would come into contact with folks such as Butker and the problematic ideas they espouse. That anger was rooted in my own experiences at the hands of similarly thinking Catholic folks in small-town Ohio, many of whom I sense would agree with a lot of what Butker has recently said. I still feel a little anger, though its more focused on how views like Butker's have been given prominent support and incubation in contemporary U.S. (and global, for that matter) society. More fully, though, I have replaced that anger with sadness. I feel sad for Harrison Butker and folks who identify with what he has said. For as much as they say they love Jesus, I sense that they haven't reflected effectively on what Jesus said and did, and that really is a disservice to their church and to the world.