Trigger Words

Trigger Words examines how language in the United States has been manipulated and politicized to sow division and dehumanization, rather than to encourage inclusion and equity. From “woke” to “DEI” to “CRT,” words that once emerged from marginalized communities to speak truth to power have been weaponized by conservative movements—especially the MAGA wing of the Republican Party—to stoke fear, shut down dialogue, and preserve systems of oppression. At the same time, however, language has been coopted by many in liberal spaces in watered-down ways that remove the overall message that was intended to be communicated by said language, such as switching terminology from “homeless” to “unhoused,” “African American” to “BIPOC,” or “Latino” to “Latinx.” This incisive and thoughtful look at how our language has been dangerously politicized by both sides of the aisle is not just a diagnosis—it is a roadmap. With experience as a university lecturer, community activist, award-winning poet, renown professional speaker, and author (Lies About Black People), Dr. Omekongo Dibinga charts a path forward to reclaim and reframe these terms in their original contexts and intent. Trigger Words is an urgent and hopeful call to action that shows that healing begins when we stop simply repeating these words like ideological mantras or rejecting them out of political fear. Instead, the book invites readers to understand the deeper histories behind our most loaded social vocabulary, challenge manipulation and misuse, and foster authentic dialogue that connects rather than divides.