To Be awake is To be Alive.
- HENRY DAVID THOREAU
A recurring theme in Walden is Thoreau’s appreciation for the clarity of morning and being awake in the physical but also intellectual, poetic, and divine sense. He sought “to wake my neighbors up” metaphorically with his experiment in living simply. A staunch abolitionist, Thoreau also recounts being arrested during a visit to the village and put in jail overnight for refusing to pay a poll tax that he felt indirectly supported the Mexican-American War and expansion of slavery—an experience that led to his Essay on Civil Disobedience that would later influence Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wake Up America is a nonprofit civic initiative dedicated to strengthening democratic culture, public dialogue, and civic education. Led by educators, artists, and lawyers, the project encourages historical awareness, media literacy, and critical engagement with language—especially when words are distorted to undermine democratic norms.
In recent years, signs of America’s democratic backsliding—outlined in documents like Project 2025 have taken on new urgency as policies are enacted at a rapid pace. Two central targets of this shift have been DEI and so-called "woke ideology." Yet only in an opposite world would “woke”—a term rooted in awareness, justice, and vigilance—become a justification for rolling back decades of progress in civil rights and erasing a more inclusive and full account of our nation’s history.
Attacks like these are not new. DEI and “woke ideology” are simply the latest in a familiar pattern, following earlier campaigns against multiculturalism and Critical Race Theory. Again and again, complex ideas have been reduced to caricatures, institutions pressured to retreat, and educators, public servants, and everyday citizens sidelined in response to manufactured cultural threats.
It begs the question: What exactly is the alternative they seek? A people asleep to injustice, inequality, corruption, and basic decency? An uninformed republic that no longer cares about constitutional principles, pluralism, and democratic norms?
We aim to set the record straight through a growing Resources page, campaign updates, and an ongoing public presence. We invite you to join us in staying alert, informed, and engaged in the shared work of sustaining a democratic society.
THEY WANT YOU ASLEEP
-
STAY WOKE
-
THEY WANT YOU ASLEEP - STAY WOKE -
America Asleep
Wake up America! Civilization calls every man, woman and child! James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960), Library of Congress
After two and a half years of neutrality, the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. James Montgomery Flagg, who created some of the war's most indelible images, sounded the alarm for all citizens in this poster which was featured in "Wake Up, America" Day in New York City just thirteen days later on April 19th. Actress Mary Arthur was Flagg's model for Columbia who is a personification of America and Liberty. She is shown asleep, wearing patriotic stars and stripes and a Phrygian cap a symbol of freedom since Roman times. While she dozes against a fluted column, another visual reference to Western classical antiquity and civilization, sinister storm clouds gather in the background.
