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Dear Progressive Reader,

A few weeks ago, a list emerged ([link removed]) that contained words that staffers at the Food and Drug Administration were no longer allowed to use. The list included ([link removed]) words like “woman” and “disabled.” The White House now says ([link removed]) the list may have resulted from a misunderstanding of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order ([link removed]) on gender. But similar lists have been circulated
([link removed]) at the National Science Foundation and elsewhere. The list also includes ([link removed]) terms like “hate speech” and “victim.”

A word not on the list is “woke” which Trump has specifically called out ([link removed]) as one of his targets numerous times—most recently in last Tuesday’s long speech ([link removed]) in front of Congress. The word “woke” has been in usage ([link removed]) since at least the early 1900s. Folksinger Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) sang ([link removed]) in 1938 “Stay woke. Keep your eyes open.” And, as actor and activist Jane Fonda recently told ([link removed]) Screen Actor’s Guild Awards attendees, “woke just means you give a damn about other people.” What is the opposite of woke? “Somnambulant,” which the dictionary defines ([link removed]) as
“having the habit of walking while asleep.” Perhaps this is an apt phrase for those opposing wokeness?

This week on our website, Stephen Zunes writes about ([link removed]) the double standards and hypocrisy when the United States condemns an occupation; Hank Kennedy assesses ([link removed]) the history of U.S. designs on our neighbor to the north as a potential “fifty-first state;” Mike Ervin warns ([link removed]) of threats to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; and Harry Clark examines ([link removed]) the effects that cuts to USAID programs will have, and are having, on people in Africa. Plus, Kerem Gençer tells the story ([link removed]) of a Black community that stood
up to a neo-Nazi rally; Nyki Duda reflects ([link removed]) on the history of pro-Palestinian student protests; and Akilah Monifa celebrates ([link removed]) boycotts in an op-ed for our Progressive Perspectives ([link removed]) project. Also, Corey Devon Arthur reports ([link removed]) from inside a prison in New York State on the conditions there affecting both prisoners and guards; for our Public Schools Advocate project ([link removed]) , Maurice Cunningham continues his investigations ([link removed]) into the school privatization movement and it’s funders; Attorney Alys Cohen
opines ([link removed]) on the importance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now under attack by the Trump Administration; and J.P. O’Malley speaks with ([link removed]) author Colm Tóibín about the life and legacy of James Baldwin who first wrote ([link removed]) for The Progressive in 1962.

Today is International Women’s Day ([link removed].) . Marches are taking place ([link removed]) across the United States and in other places around the globe. This year the themes and ideas behind this day could not be ([link removed]) more important. Stand up and be counted!

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - Thanks to everyone who supported us in the "Big Share" on March 4. You can still donate to The Progressive and a number of other social justice organizations via this link ([link removed]) until midnight on Tuesday March 11.

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