Jim Banks Plans 'Anti-Woke Caucus' to Bolster GOP's War on 'Wokeness'

Republican Representative Jim Banks of Indiana has vowed to start an "anti-woke caucus" to fight what he calls a "woke agenda" in Congress.

Banks pledged to start the caucus in an opinion article published by the conservative Claremont Institute's The American Mind on Friday. He said that the move would help crush the "doctrine" of "wokeness," which has in recent years become a popular but often poorly defined culture war buzzword among conservatives.

In the article, the Republican congressman lamented that "we no longer live in normal America," while arguing that the country was living under the threat of a "creeping tyranny which nearly all Americans now feel."

"The most toxic part of this tyranny is its doctrine—'wokeness,'" Banks wrote. "It means that all the so-called oppressor groups must be punished for their past and present alleged sins."

Banks added that "the Left" was punishing the "so-called oppressor groups" by "inducing self-hatred through indoctrination, stripping away their rights by not enforcing the laws on their behalf, public humiliation, hatred, expropriation, and ultimately violence."

The congressman claimed that unnamed people who were accusing the "so-called oppressors" of wrongdoing were receiving "privileged status, exemption from certain laws and norms, and the public recognition that their views are unimpeachable—they cannot be contradicted by reason, they cannot be doubted, but must be believed."

Banks also did not define who the "so-called oppressor groups" were, and failed to specify the "past and present alleged sins" of which he claimed the groups were being accused.

Newsweek has reached out to the office of Banks for comment and clarification.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term "woke" as being "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)."

"It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement," Merriam-Webster's website states.

"By the end of that same decade it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning," it continues.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is one of the country's most prominent GOP crusaders against "wokeness," having introduced an "anti-woke" law to the state, which has since been partially blocked in court.

The governor said that he rejected "woke ideology" while proudly proclaiming during his second inaugural address this month that "Florida is where woke goes to die."

However, a pair of Axios Engagious/Schlesinger focus groups conducted this week suggest that Florida residents have significant difficulty in defining what "woke" means.

Ryan Newman, general counsel for DeSantis, defined "woke" as "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them" during a court hearing last month, according to Florida Politics.

Banks was not the only conservative to rail against "wokeness" this week. On Friday, Kyle Rittenhouse, best known for being acquitted of charges in the fatal shooting of two people during a 2020 protest, mentioned the supposed doctrine after a brewery in Texas pulled out of hosting a right-wing "Rally Against Censorship" event that he was scheduled to appear at later this month.

Rittenhouse argued that those who "bend to the woke crowd" were behind the venue's decision, which he said was an attempt to "censor" him. He also asserted that the brewery had violated the Constitution's First Amendment by refusing to host the rally, although the amendment does not mandate that private companies are required to host any events in particular.