Most businesses were ‘woke’ long ago

Our state Legislature and governor combined to create and pass “anti-woke” legislation. Obviously their knowledge of recent American history is lacking.

Businesses have been “waking up” since the 1960s with their embrace of the civil rights movement; in the 1970s they woke to the environmental movement; in the 1980’s they woke to the evangelical Christian political movement; in the early 2000s they woke to climate change and now they have woken to the rights of the LGBTQ movement. All of these awakenings have one thing in common — businesses realized they could increase sales, revenue, and profits by aligning with these movements.

Now it is much easier for workers to push corporate leaders to take stands on these cultural/political issues by using social media — and corporate leaders are reacting. Corporate leaders are faced with open public prodding and criticism by employees for not taking public stands. Republicans are angry because large corporations are taking the opposite side in these culture-war issues instead of remaining quiet so they create fake issues to pass poorly thought-out laws. Our schools and businesses do not teach “people are inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive whether consciously or unconsciously.” It’s very unfortunate our governor and state Legislature waste time on these issues instead of working to resolve bigger problems. Stuart Peisner Longwood