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Definition - this one, by far, is the easiest. ‘Stay Woke’ definitionally just means being aware of your surroundings and things going on, with a particular focus on social injustices - though it has been used outside of those contexts

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Social - here’s where it gets tricky. Stay Woke first came into public eyes in an Erykah Badu song, ‘Master Teachers’ in around 2009. Besides the song, there weren’t much cultural uses of the phrase aside from a handful of twitter users. The phrase really started picking up in 2013, as a response to policy brutality and prevalent racism throughout the United State. The phrase lived synonymously with #BlackLivesMatter and was used almost exclusively in the context of social justice. Around 2015, the phrase began being co-opted by people to fit other contexts and here’s where the statement becomes a diluted definitionally with “being aware” instead of “being aware of policy brutality and racism”

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Political - The phrase currently exists in a space filled with tension around who ought to use it and whether it’s purpose and true message is being taken away from it by (generally) white people. Some argue that using #StayWoke in the context of relatively meaningless issues dilutes the statement of it’s true intended purpose of giving the Black Community and People of Color a voice and space to talk about politically charged issues - issues that are relevant to them and not the people who often co-opt the statement for themselves.

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Sited: https://www.quora.com/What-does-Stay-Woke-mean

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