Slate writer claims 'woke' is a racial slur when used by non-black people

Slate staff writer Joel Anderson claimed Sunday on Tiwtter that non-black people who use the term "woke" are guilty of using "a racial slur."

"If you're not black and started using 'woke' pejoratively sometime post-2018 or so (or worse, don't know anything about the earlier iteration of the term), I think it's fair to consider it a racial slur," Anderson tweeted in a Twitter thread.

"And it doesn't mean I'm gonna do anything to you, or that anyone else will. But it doesn't mean I won't either," continued Anderson. He then posted a picture of white men carrying tiki torches and captioned the photo "all these hit dogs."

"I know this is hard because a certain group of folks feel entitled to say whatever they want to you whenever they want. And who am I to stop them from using a term they shoplifted from the black community? All I’m saying is, like with the other words, I get to decide my response," Anderson added.

The Federalist reports that multiple journalists from other corporate media outlets liked or retweeted Anderson's original post, noting that the Washington Post's Michael Lee, NBC's Kimmy Yam, ESPN's Morgan Jenkins, MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson, and Vox and Draft King’s David Fucillo were among those "who seemed to agree with and support Anderson's claims."

This is also not the first time Anderson has tweeted on the issue. Back in 2019, he tweeted: "One word that i really wish black people had never used in public was 'woke.' But we lost it and it’s gone now, like 'bae' and Terry Crews."