EXPLAINER: White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks
NEW YORK (AP) — A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.
Ideas from the “great replacement theory" filled a racist screed supposedly posted online by the white 18-year-old accused of targeting Black people in Saturday's rampage. Authorities were still working to confirm its authenticity.
Certainly, there was no mistaking the racist intent of the shooter.
WHAT IS THE ‘GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY'?
Simply put, the conspiracy theory says there's a plot to diminish the influence of white people.
Believers say this goal is being achieved both through the immigration of nonwhite people into societies that have largely been dominated by white people, as well as through simple demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations.
The conspiracy theory's more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan: White nationalists marching at a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that turned deadly in 2017 chanted “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
A more mainstream view in the U.S. baselessly suggests Democrats are encouraging immigration from Latin America so more like-minded potential voters replace “traditional” Americans, says Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism.
WHAT ARE THIS CONSPIRACY THEORY'S ORIGINS?
How long has racism existed? Broadly speaking, the roots of this “theory” are that deep. In the U.S., you can point to efforts to intimidate and discourage Black people from voting — or, in antagonists' view, “replacing” white voters at the polls — that date to the Reconstruction era, after the 15th Amendment made clear suffrage couldn't be restricted on account of race.
In the modern era, most experts point to two influential books. “The Turner Diaries,” a 1978 novel written by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, is about a violent revolution in the United States with a race war that leads to the extermination of nonwhites.
The FBI called it a “bible of the racist right,” says Kurt Braddock, an American University professor and researcher at the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab.
Renaud Camus, a French writer, published a 2011 book claiming that Europe was being invaded by Black and brown immigrants from Africa. He called the book “Le Grand Replacement,” and a conspiracy's name was born.
Related video: The mainstreaming of the "Great Replacement" theory (MSNBC)
WHO ARE ITS ADHERENTS?
To some of the more extreme believers, certain white supremacist mass killers — at a Norway summer camp in 2011, two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques in 2019, a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 — are considered saints, Pitcavage says.
Those “accelerationist white supremacists” believe small societal changes won't achieve much, so the only option is tearing down society, he says.
The Buffalo shooter’s purported written diatribe and some of the methods indicate he closely studied the Christchurch shooter — particularly the effort to livestream his rampage. According to apparent screenshots from the Buffalo broadcast, the shooter inscribed the number 14 on his gun, which Pitcavage says is shorthand for a 14-word white supremacist slogan.
A written declaration by the Christchurch shooter was widely spread online. If the message attributed to the Buffalo shooter proves authentic, it's designed to also spread his philosophy and methods to a large audience.
IS THE THEORY MAKING WIDER INROADS?
While more virulent forms of racism are widely abhorred, experts are concerned about extreme views nonetheless becoming mainstream.
In a poll released last week, The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 1 in 3 Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.
On a regular basis, many adherents to the more extreme versions of the “great replacement” theory converse through encrypted apps online. They tend to be careful. They know they’re being watched.
“They are very clever,” Braddock says. “They don’t make overt calls to arms.”
WHO'S TALKING UP THIS THEORY?
In particular, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ most popular personality, has pushed false views that are more easily embraced by some white people who are concerned about a loss of their political and social power.
“I know that the left and all the gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said on his show last year. “But they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually, let's just say it. That's true.”
A study of five years' worth of Carlson's show by The New York Times found 400 instances where he talked about Democratic politicians and others seeking to force demographic change through immigration.
Fox News defended the host, pointing to repeated statements that Carlson has made denouncing political violence of all kinds.
The attention paid by many Republican politicians to what they see as a leaky southern border along the United States has been interpreted, at least by some, as a nod to the concern of white people who worry about being “replaced.”
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik's campaign committee was criticized last year for an advertisement that said “radical Democrats” were planning a “permanent election insurrection” by granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants who would create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. Stefanik represents a New York district.
Pitcavage says he's concerned about the message Carlson and supporters are sending: “It actually introduces the ‘great replacement theory’ to a conservative audience in an easier-to-swallow pill."
David Bauder, The Associated Press
WHO ARE ITS ADHERENTS?
To some of the more extreme believers, certain white supremacist mass killers — at a Norway summer camp in 2011, two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques in 2019, a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 — are considered saints, Pitcavage says.
Those “accelerationist white supremacists” believe small societal changes won't achieve much, so the only option is tearing down society, he says.
The Buffalo shooter’s purported written diatribe and some of the methods indicate he closely studied the Christchurch shooter — particularly the effort to livestream his rampage. According to apparent screenshots from the Buffalo broadcast, the shooter inscribed the number 14 on his gun, which Pitcavage says is shorthand for a 14-word white supremacist slogan.
A written declaration by the Christchurch shooter was widely spread online. If the message attributed to the Buffalo shooter proves authentic, it's designed to also spread his philosophy and methods to a large audience.
IS THE THEORY MAKING WIDER INROADS?
While more virulent forms of racism are widely abhorred, experts are concerned about extreme views nonetheless becoming mainstream.
In a poll released last week, The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 1 in 3 Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.
On a regular basis, many adherents to the more extreme versions of the “great replacement” theory converse through encrypted apps online. They tend to be careful. They know they’re being watched.
“They are very clever,” Braddock says. “They don’t make overt calls to arms.”
WHO'S TALKING UP THIS THEORY?
In particular, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ most popular personality, has pushed false views that are more easily embraced by some white people who are concerned about a loss of their political and social power.
“I know that the left and all the gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said on his show last year. “But they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually, let's just say it. That's true.”
A study of five years' worth of Carlson's show by The New York Times found 400 instances where he talked about Democratic politicians and others seeking to force demographic change through immigration.
Fox News defended the host, pointing to repeated statements that Carlson has made denouncing political violence of all kinds.
The attention paid by many Republican politicians to what they see as a leaky southern border along the United States has been interpreted, at least by some, as a nod to the concern of white people who worry about being “replaced.”
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik's campaign committee was criticized last year for an advertisement that said “radical Democrats” were planning a “permanent election insurrection” by granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants who would create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. Stefanik represents a New York district.
Pitcavage says he's concerned about the message Carlson and supporters are sending: “It actually introduces the ‘great replacement theory’ to a conservative audience in an easier-to-swallow pill."
___
David Bauder, The Associated Press
SEE
'We are ascendant!' Steve Bannon addresses 'replacement theory' after Buffalo shooting
David Edwards
May 16, 2022
Real America's Voice/screen grab
Conservative podcaster Steve Bannon on Monday vowed not to back down in promoting a racist conspiracy theory that was allegedly cited by suspected Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron.
On his daily War Room: Pandemic podcast, Bannon insisted reports about the "replacement theory" were meant to distract the public. Bannon has previously promoted a French book that inspired the theory, which claims that white citizens are being replaced by immigrants.
"Of course, all of the morning shows are all over Tucker Carlson and a few others about the replacement theory," Bannon complained. "They seem to miss the point. And here's what we're not going to back off on. For people who have followed this show from day one, we are inclusive nationalists. Right?"
"OK? So, this is not about race," he continued. "This is about American citizenship! This is about the value of your citizens."
Bannon said that he was "not backing off one inch" despite the shooting.
"This is why we're going to take over every elections board in the nation," he remarked. "This is why we're going to take over every medical board in this nation. This is why we're going to take over state legislatures and D.A.s and attorney generals [sic] and secretaries of state and governors. And we're not going to stop. We are ascendant!"
Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.
David Edwards
May 16, 2022
Real America's Voice/screen grab
Conservative podcaster Steve Bannon on Monday vowed not to back down in promoting a racist conspiracy theory that was allegedly cited by suspected Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron.
On his daily War Room: Pandemic podcast, Bannon insisted reports about the "replacement theory" were meant to distract the public. Bannon has previously promoted a French book that inspired the theory, which claims that white citizens are being replaced by immigrants.
"Of course, all of the morning shows are all over Tucker Carlson and a few others about the replacement theory," Bannon complained. "They seem to miss the point. And here's what we're not going to back off on. For people who have followed this show from day one, we are inclusive nationalists. Right?"
"OK? So, this is not about race," he continued. "This is about American citizenship! This is about the value of your citizens."
Bannon said that he was "not backing off one inch" despite the shooting.
"This is why we're going to take over every elections board in the nation," he remarked. "This is why we're going to take over every medical board in this nation. This is why we're going to take over state legislatures and D.A.s and attorney generals [sic] and secretaries of state and governors. And we're not going to stop. We are ascendant!"
Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.
Tory leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
BUT LIKE ALL CONSERVATIVES HE STILL REMAINS RACIST
OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre, a high-profile contender in the Conservative party's leadership race, onMonday denounced the "white replacement theory," which was believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as "ugly and disgusting hate-mongering."
leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
In a statement provided to The Canadian Press,the longtime Ottawa MP, who has been attracting massive crowds as he campaigns across the country, condemned the attack, in which police say a white gunman shot up a supermarket in a majority Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and wounding three others.
U.S. law enforcement is investigating the shooter's online posts, which include the conspiracy theory that there’s a plot to diminish the influence of white people.
Believers say so-called "white replacement" is being achieved both through immigration and demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations, and some claim this has been orchestrated by Jews.
Poilievre was responding to a tweet by fellow leadership contestant Patrick Brown pointing out that Pat King, a leader of the February "Freedom Convoy"that clogged up the streets surrounding Parliament Hill for weeks, which Poilievre and many other Conservative MPs supported, has spread the conspiracy theory online.
Brown called on his rival to "condemn this hate."
"For Patrick Brown to use this atrocity is sleazy — even for him,"Poilievre said in his statement Monday. "I supported the peaceful and law-abiding truckers who protested for their livelihoods and freedoms while simultaneously condemning any individuals who broke laws, behaved badly or blocked critical infrastructure.
"I also condemn Pat King and his ugly remarks."
In response to Poilievre's remarks, a spokesman for Brown accused him of "reluctantly giving a statement when asked, rather than shouting denunciation from every platform you have."
"Flirting with these dangerous elements does a disservice to the vast majority of Conservative Party members and will cost us the next election if it is allowed to stand,'" Chisholm Pothier wrote.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen also issued a statement Monday calling racism repugnant.
"The ‘white-replacement’ conspiracy theory is peddled by racists and bigots, Conservatives unequivocally condemn this kind of thinking," she said.
Bergen went on to say that "while Canadians are free to protest and demonstrate, that does not include illegally blocking or occupying infrastructure, nor does it include illegal hate-speech.”
How much support each of the six Conservative leadership candidates running for Erin O'Toole's former job showed to the protesters who descended on the nation's capital as part of the convoy has been a reoccurring feature of the race.
Poilievre discussed his position on the demonstration – which was characterized by local police and political leaders as an occupation – during an hour-and-a-half interview with controversial Canadian psychology professor and bestselling author Jordan Peterson, which aired Monday.
In the interview, which was conducted virtually, Poilievre defended the protest near Parliament Hill as a mostly peaceful endeavour, saying he believed truckers who travelled there would have left had Trudeau acquiesced and removed the federal mandates.
"The media depiction was total nonsense. If you watched it on television you would think that it was Armageddon," Poilievre told Peterson, pointing out MPs who condemned the protest were not blocked from accessing the Hose of Commons.
"It was peaceful. It was most of the time sort of a jubilant-type celebration."
Poilievre did, however, acknowledge the pain it caused to some businesses. Some in the area decided to close during the convoy for reasons that included protesters flouting public health rules and reports of staff being harassed.
"Some businesses were inconvenienced and lost money. They should be compensated."
Poilievre suggested he's also looking at proposing changes to the federal Emergencies Act, telling Peterson he was consulting with legal scholars around curtailing its use, which Conservatives contend was unnecessary to dismantle the Ottawa protest.
Peterson rose to fame after refusing to call trans students by their preferred pronouns and opposing transgender human rights legislation.
These topics were not discussed in his wide-ranging interview with Poilievre, which covered everything from the MP's burgeoning interest in conservativism as a teenager in Calgary and having a sense of humour in politics, to his pledge to defund the CBC and insights into why his rallies were drawing such large crowds.
After the interview aired, fellow Conservative leadership candidates Leslyn Lewis and Roman Baber said on Twitter that they too wanted to be interviewed by Peterson.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.
-- With files from The Associated Press
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre, a high-profile contender in the Conservative party's leadership race, onMonday denounced the "white replacement theory," which was believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as "ugly and disgusting hate-mongering."
leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
In a statement provided to The Canadian Press,the longtime Ottawa MP, who has been attracting massive crowds as he campaigns across the country, condemned the attack, in which police say a white gunman shot up a supermarket in a majority Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and wounding three others.
U.S. law enforcement is investigating the shooter's online posts, which include the conspiracy theory that there’s a plot to diminish the influence of white people.
Believers say so-called "white replacement" is being achieved both through immigration and demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations, and some claim this has been orchestrated by Jews.
Poilievre was responding to a tweet by fellow leadership contestant Patrick Brown pointing out that Pat King, a leader of the February "Freedom Convoy"that clogged up the streets surrounding Parliament Hill for weeks, which Poilievre and many other Conservative MPs supported, has spread the conspiracy theory online.
Brown called on his rival to "condemn this hate."
"For Patrick Brown to use this atrocity is sleazy — even for him,"Poilievre said in his statement Monday. "I supported the peaceful and law-abiding truckers who protested for their livelihoods and freedoms while simultaneously condemning any individuals who broke laws, behaved badly or blocked critical infrastructure.
"I also condemn Pat King and his ugly remarks."
In response to Poilievre's remarks, a spokesman for Brown accused him of "reluctantly giving a statement when asked, rather than shouting denunciation from every platform you have."
"Flirting with these dangerous elements does a disservice to the vast majority of Conservative Party members and will cost us the next election if it is allowed to stand,'" Chisholm Pothier wrote.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen also issued a statement Monday calling racism repugnant.
"The ‘white-replacement’ conspiracy theory is peddled by racists and bigots, Conservatives unequivocally condemn this kind of thinking," she said.
Bergen went on to say that "while Canadians are free to protest and demonstrate, that does not include illegally blocking or occupying infrastructure, nor does it include illegal hate-speech.”
How much support each of the six Conservative leadership candidates running for Erin O'Toole's former job showed to the protesters who descended on the nation's capital as part of the convoy has been a reoccurring feature of the race.
Poilievre discussed his position on the demonstration – which was characterized by local police and political leaders as an occupation – during an hour-and-a-half interview with controversial Canadian psychology professor and bestselling author Jordan Peterson, which aired Monday.
In the interview, which was conducted virtually, Poilievre defended the protest near Parliament Hill as a mostly peaceful endeavour, saying he believed truckers who travelled there would have left had Trudeau acquiesced and removed the federal mandates.
"The media depiction was total nonsense. If you watched it on television you would think that it was Armageddon," Poilievre told Peterson, pointing out MPs who condemned the protest were not blocked from accessing the Hose of Commons.
"It was peaceful. It was most of the time sort of a jubilant-type celebration."
Poilievre did, however, acknowledge the pain it caused to some businesses. Some in the area decided to close during the convoy for reasons that included protesters flouting public health rules and reports of staff being harassed.
"Some businesses were inconvenienced and lost money. They should be compensated."
Poilievre suggested he's also looking at proposing changes to the federal Emergencies Act, telling Peterson he was consulting with legal scholars around curtailing its use, which Conservatives contend was unnecessary to dismantle the Ottawa protest.
Peterson rose to fame after refusing to call trans students by their preferred pronouns and opposing transgender human rights legislation.
These topics were not discussed in his wide-ranging interview with Poilievre, which covered everything from the MP's burgeoning interest in conservativism as a teenager in Calgary and having a sense of humour in politics, to his pledge to defund the CBC and insights into why his rallies were drawing such large crowds.
After the interview aired, fellow Conservative leadership candidates Leslyn Lewis and Roman Baber said on Twitter that they too wanted to be interviewed by Peterson.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.
-- With files from The Associated Press
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
