“Everybody down there, stay woke. Keep their eyes open.” - Leadbelly
This needs to be persevered, I think. “Woke” is neither new or modern, and every asshat around that tries to reframe this phrase as either liberal or “extreme leftist” needs to be put in check about the history of the phrasing.
I believe that that the initial interpretation is what lead to the modern one. Being awake to your surroundings at large is, imo, the same meaning for old and new meanings of the term. I could be wrong here, but in my experience both mean having a general awareness of what’s happening around you and keeping an eye on how to preserve your rights.
Edits; typos/autocorrect