"Woke" to me is one of those words that started out as one thing... and now some people use it as an insult.

I guess it depends on which definition you're using, to determine how you'll feel about this: A new study finds Michigan among the wokest states in the nation.

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As Zippia, the career website behind the study, points out:

Merriam-Webster defines [woke] as, “ aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of justice).” That’s nice.

 

However, Urban Dictionary adds it’s a “pretentious” and “deluded” awareness. That’s less nice.

To determine their ranking, Zippia looked at 6 factors:

  • BLM protests attendees
  • # of BLM protests
  • Voting
  • Master’s degree or higher
  • Organic farms
  • Kombucha consumption

For info on Black Lives Matters protests, Zippia analyzed data from CountLove, looking at two factors: The number of BLM protests in each state and the number of attendees per state population.

Zippia also looked at data from the American Community Survey for the percent of people in each state with a master’s degree or higher, saying "Wokeness has its roots in awareness and education, after all. "

The last one made me laugh -- I did not know kombucha= woke! Here's how Zippia explains it,

...because being woke has become a bit of a lifestyle, we used Google Trend data to find where the most people are searching for Kombucha. The more people guzzling the fermented tea, the more woke the state.

So how does the Mitten State rank? According to Zippia, Michigan is the 12th wokest state, tied with Illinois. 

Findings for Michigan:

  • Percent-Of-Population-Protesting: 2.1%
  • Protests: 1,411
  • Percent of Voter Turnout:  57 %
  • Organic Farms: 834

Here's the rest of the Top 12 Most Woke States:

  1. Oregon
  2. Washington
  3. Vermont
  4. Colorada
  5. California
  6. Minnesota
  7. Massachusetts
  8. New York
  9. Maine
  10. Wisconsin
  11. Pennsylvania
  12. Michigan tied with Illinois

Least woke? Here's Zippia's ranking for that:

  1. Arkansas
  2. West Virginia
  3. Louisiana
  4. Alabama
  5. Mississippi
  6. Oklahoma
  7. South Carolina
  8. Delaware
  9. Nevada
  10. South Dakota

SEE MORE: 12 Items Every Michigander Has In Their Closet

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