Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“Woke 1.0 was crazy,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said in a recent interview.

The congresswoman, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, seemed to distance herself from the positions of an era of Democratic politics around 2020, shortly after she rose to prominence. Some on the left now see the rhetoric of that time as ineffective and divisive. There has been a widespread retreat on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts among corporations. And some public officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, have walked back their calls to defund the police.

If Woke 1.0 is in the past, when did it die? And has Woke 2.0 risen from its ashes?

When did the term Woke 1.0 surface?

Ocasio-Cortez said on “This Week” that she was quoting Chi Ossé, a far-left New York City councilman, when she described the so-called Woke 1.0. (Ossé posted about the “crazy” era on X in May. )

That era is sometimes referred to colloquially as peak woke. In May, Yemisi Egbewole, a former Biden White House aide, posted on X praising Texas State Representative James Talarico, who is running for a Senate seat, after he walked back statements from that era.

“I think it’s great that Talarico is calling some of his high-net-woke comments cringe,” Egbewole wrote. “Honestly, more young people running for office are probably going to have to do this. Peak woke got weird. It’s okay to say that!”

Though the word “woke” itself originated in Black slang and had been around for decades in grass roots movements, in recent years it has been used pejoratively by some Republicans and moderate Democrats as a way to describe policies they view as out of touch.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.