A phrase coined by New York City councilman Chi Ossé — "Woke 1 was crazyyyy" — went viral after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quoted it on ABC News while discussing a Wisconsin candidate's old tweets about cancelling Thanksgiving and defunding police. The column argues AOC's full remarks were measured, but were seized on by Fox News's Stephen Miller, who tied the 2018-2021 progressive rhetoric to a surge in murders, and by The Atlantic, which warned Democrats can't dismiss the period.
The author concedes some of that era's episodes were embarrassing, citing a Mexican American utility worker fired after being wrongly accused of a white-power hand gesture. But the column pivots to what it frames as bigger current stakes: a case in the Nation describing a family, including a U.S.-born child, detained by ICE over a relative's decades-old, unrelated history in Iran.
The piece also cites a UN Women analysis on Afghan women's restricted movement and quotes a Taliban ministry spokesperson claiming women have full access to their rights.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.