The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion The right wing’s ‘woke’ obsession could come back to haunt it

Editorial Writer|
March 20, 2023 at 6:30 a.m. EDT
Demonstrators protest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) plan to eliminate Advanced Placement courses on African American studies in high schools outside the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee on Feb. 15. (Joshua Lott for The Washington Post)
5 min

What, pray tell, is a “woke” bank?

Somehow, when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) suggested that Silicon Valley Bank had collapsed because it was “one of the most woke banks,” his point, while nonsensical, was entirely clear.

After all, woke has turned into conservatives’ favorite word for anything they dislike.