THAT SOUNDS OMINOUS

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: 'It's time that we simply put wokeism to sleep'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the remark during a speech at the Voice of America.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Jan. 10, 2020
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By Alex Nitzberg

Updated: January 11, 2021 -

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during a speech at Voice of America in the nation's capital on Monday, said that he had read that some of the organization's employees did not want him to deliver an address.

 HE AND TRUMP ADVOCATED AND TRIED TO SHUT DOWN VOA

"I'm sure it was only a handful. They didn't want the voice of American diplomacy to be broadcast on the Voice of America. Think about that for just a moment," the secretary of state remarked during the speech which was also broadcast.

"Look, we're all part of institutions with duties and responsibilities higher and bigger and more important than any one of us individually. But this kind of censorial instinct is dangerous, it's morally wrong. Indeed it's against your statutory mandate here at VOA. Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction: Authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness," he said, noting a similarity regarding "what we're seeing at Twitter and Facebook and Apple and on too many university campuses today. It's not who we are. It's not who we are as Americans. And it's not what Voice of America should be. It's time that we simply put wokeism to sleep. And you can lead the way," Pompeo said.