marnanel | Mar. 21st, 2016

I'm putting together an OED submission for the AAVE adjective woke, as in politically conscious. If anyone could suggest citations or defintiions, I'd appreciate it.

woke, adj. (orig.US, AAVE) aware of current events; politically conscious. Often in phrase stay woke.

Citations I have so far:

[ 2008 Erykah Badu, Master Teacher Even though you go through struggle and strife to keep a healthy life, I stay woke. ]
2012 Erykah Badu, Twitter Truth requires no belief. Stay woke. Watch closely.
2012 @Sankofa Brown, Twitter The last time Black life was valued in America we were just considered 3/5ths of a person. #StayWoke
2012 @SaudaAinra, Twitter There are people white people who stink and wear flip flops all year round that think like her. Stay woke. Stay woke.
2014 @LeboLola, Twitter Stay woke is somewhat equivalent to stay paranoid n not confident.
2015 Kara Brown, jezebel.com (title) In the aftermath of Ferguson, stay angry and stay woke. [thanks to realinterrobang ]
2016 MTV News, Teen Slang 2016 [definition] Being aware — specifically in reference to current events and cultural issues.
2016 Candace Simpson, For Harriet. (title) Woke ain't enough: towards collective consciousness building.