WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE #WOKE: READING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE SOCIAL ISSUES?
If you have a Millennial or Generation Z young person in your life, then you will have probably at some stage heard the term “Woke”. No, it does not mean getting out of bed before 1 pm. But it does mean being awake and aware, being open to ideas around racism, sexism, gender identity, otherness and diversity. Most of us will hopefully never have to experience these issues and –isms first hand, but through the power of reading we can create an internal landscape of knowledge and interest without leaving home. We can look at issues from a variety of perspectives which will in the long run shape our own thinking and awareness.
Knowledge is power and our role as libraries in society and librarians within those libraries is to be a champion for intellectual freedom. Why? Some of these personal accounts that you will read about will invariably not make for pretty reading, it certainly won’t be a Lucinda Riley, but sometimes the truth is messy.
My challenge to you is to step outside of your comfort zone and read around a subject that you may not have encountered before, a subject that you may not have thought that you would want to read about. You may surprise yourself by learning something new, having a fresh perspective on an old issue, you may have a new understanding for something, a new way of thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that you radically change your reading habits and only read books about social issues, because that is not realistic, what I am suggesting is that you, every now and again, pick up book that you wouldn’t normally try.
I will leave you with these quotes as a little food for thought,
“I didn’t change. I just woke up!” Woke saying
“Better to be slapped with the truth, then kissed with a lie.” Woke saying
“I woke up one morning and realised that what I wanted to say to everyone – children, young people and adults – was: Read for your life” Katherine Paterson
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