Friday, May 20, 2022

The “Great Replacement” Theory Is the American Way

Marjua Estevez - Yesterday
Refinery29

Several months before Payton S. Gendron carried out a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, which targeted Black patrons, the 18-year-old white man regularly posted on social media about the “great replacement” theory, false claims that white people in the U.S. are intentionally being replaced by nonwhite people through immigration, interracial marriage, and violence.


© Provided by Refinery29The “Great Replacement” Theory Is the American Way

In Gendron’s alleged manifesto, the man, whose attack is being investigated as a hate crime, shares details about the planned massacre, like choosing Buffalo as the scene for his attack because it was the city closest to him with the highest number of Black people. Racist mass shootings targeting Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous populations in this country aren’t new — and neither is the premise, or motive, of the “great replacement” theory. In fact, it’s the American way.

After the invasion, genocide, and displacement of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans, this country’s founding fathers determined that the U.S. was by and for white Americans, and the minority nonwhite population existed to serve. Throughout history, as these marginalized groups grew and began gaining power through numbers, different versions of the “great replacement” theory were born.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, upon the emancipation of enslaved Africans and the seizing of lands like modern-day Texas, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, the eugenics movement punctually made its way to the U.S. The goal of the movement was to rewire the racial composition of an increasingly diverse nation by methodically enacting policies that control the reproduction of a people. “It became very important, because people with a lot of social influence really embraced it,” New York Times deputy national editor and author of One Mighty and Irresistible Tide Jia Lynn Yang said. “These are leading economists, leading scientists, people who are really kind of dictating intellectual American life at the time. Eugenics was completely mainstream.”

We saw this in the glossed-over history of the U.S.-sanctioned eugenics program in Puerto Rico, where U.S. scientists and government launched a sterilization operation and used low-income boricua women as subjects for birth control research without their informed consent. According to the 1982 film La Operacion by Ana Maria Garcia, one-third of Puerto Rican women could not have children as a result. Similarly, Mexican immigrant women in California were forced to sign paperwork that gave the state the right to sterilize them by threatening to keep their newborns. Their stories were finally recognized in PBS’ 2016 documentary No Más Bebés.

New restrictions to abortion access, and the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, will further influence sexual and reproductive rights in the U.S., especially for birthing people of color. One Mississippi reproductive rights activist, Laurie Betram Roberts, draws ties with the current political mayhem brewing around criminalizing abortion and the hate groups peddling “great replacement” talking points. To her, the pro-life body politic isn’t about protecting life more than it is about ensuring the genetic superiority of one race over another. “If you look at the states that are the most restrictive around abortion, they’re also the states most invested in white replacement theory,” she said. “They’re the most conservative and a lot of them also happen to be in the southeast, where there’s a long history and fight over how many Black folks are still around and how many Hispanic people are coming in. And so there is a lot of conversation about the white birth rate.”

Similarly, anti-immigration movements in the U.S. grew out of ideologies at the root of the “great replacement” theory. For instance, in 1916, the immigration restrictionist Madison Grant published The Passing of the Great Race, a book that posited that immigration, and the inner-mixing that comes from it, was ruining the “Anglo-Saxon” population. His works helped spark anti-immigration laws that passed in the 1920s, which limited entry from Black and Asian migrants. (Note: ​​Even before the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act marked a schism in U.S. immigration history, there was the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, a landmark law that for the first time singled out an ethnic group for restriction.)

This rhetoric hasn’t just continued; it’s intensified. In his 1987 book The Birth Dearth, the late columnist and demographer Ben Wattenberg warned white people about the Third World, and how the global south would eventually dominate and erode Western culture if there is no change of action. Today, white supremacists have reenvisioned the concept of the “great replacement” theory as a covert operation designed by the U.S. government to “undermine or replace the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.”

With immigration largely coming from Latin America, Black and Brown Latinx people have been among the primary targets. From the anti-Latinx immigrant rhetoric popular on conservative media, to legislation that targets Latinx migrants specifically, to the physical violence directed at this community, including the 2019 El Paso shooting, those who subscribe to the “great replacement” theory fear a browning of the U.S. and will kill to protect the illusion of white supremacy. But Latinxs haven’t been the only groups to be fatally targeted. There has been a rise in anti-Asian violence and a long, and ongoing, history of attacks against Black churches — and, now, supermarkets.

Of course, extrajudicially murdering and sterilizing Black and Brown communities are just some of the tools white people have used to control people of color and manipulate their lives. Imprisonment is another example; the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate on the planet, and Black and Latinx people are among the most likely to be detained. This is the consequence of a centuries-old, politically motivated myth that the mere presence of nonwhite people is a threat to white life and the conspiracy of white supremacy.

Despite conservative talking heads, like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, often amplifying this theory to its millions of followers for several years, many have recently tried to distance themselves from Gendron’s violence. According to a Washington Post report, nearly half of Republicans agree with the “great replacement” theory. In fact, many have defended and rationalized the claims that allegedly motivated Gendron’s racist attack; however, some are now condemning the mass shooting that their crusade inspired.

Even more, they’ve attempted to fashion the violence that these racist conspiracy theories breed as something jarring and unheard of. In doing so, they undermine the atrocious legacy of U.S. genocide and the very real lived experiences of its countless victims.



'Great replacement' conspiracy theory unified white supremacists long before Buffalo, N.Y., shooting

Jaela Bernstien - 
cbc.ca


Whether it goes by the "great replacement" or another name, the conspiracy theory embraced by the accused Buffalo, N.Y., gunman has inspired several mass shootings in recent years — in Canada and around the world.

Ten people died in the attack at Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighbourhood of Buffalo on Saturday.

A manifesto linked to the 18-year-old accused gunman is being investigated by the FBI, which described the deadly shooting at the supermarket as "racially motivated violent extremism."

The manifesto text, which was posted online, refers to the "great replacement" conspiracy theory, which promotes fears that Europeans are being replaced through so-called "white genocide." It also explicitly states the intention of the planned attack was "to show the replacers that as long as the White man lives, our land will never be theirs and they will never be safe from us."


© Matt Rourke/The Associated Press
Investigators at the scene of the shooting at Tops Friendly Markets, in Buffalo, N.Y., Monday, May 16, 2022. Ten people were killed in the attack which police said was motivated by racism.

Those who closely monitor violent extremism say it is another tragic example of how the racist ideology is spurring deadly violence.

"The great replacement conspiracy theory is kind of like the primordial DNA of racist conspiracy theory," said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

In essence, the conspiracy — which is not true — suggests there is an orchestrated plot to bring in more non-white immigrants to replace white "European" people in Western countries.

"They say this is actually a concerted effort by shadowy elites — in some cases it's the Muslim Brotherhood and in other cases, usually, they blame the Jews — [who] are controlling the media and the government so as to purposefully lower white birth rates," Balgord said of the conspiracy's proponents.

The term great replacement was originally coined by French white nationalist Renaud Camus.

Balgord, who said the idea has picked up steam in the last decade, is quick to list off recent mass murders rooted in the ideology: the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting, which left six dead; the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, which left 11 dead; and the 2019 mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, which left 51 dead.

"All sorts of communities are targeted by this," he said.
Using fear of an urgent threat to spur violence

What makes the conspiracy theory such a catalyzing force for violence is the sense of urgency and the fear that white or "European" culture is under threat, according to Balgord.

He said in online forums and sites like 4chan, the language around this idea of a "great replacement" is often violent.

"They convince people that there's an apocalyptic situation, that you and your children — they're trying to replace you," he said. "That's scary for somebody who believes that."

The false sense of imminent threat makes the conspiracy particularly dangerous, said Amarnath Amarasingam, assistant professor in the school of religion at Queen's University in Kingston and a senior fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.

"The thing with some of these ideas is they kind of push general fear into a kind of emergency situation," he said.


© Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
In a photo from February 2017, a friend consoles Ilies Soufiane, the 15-year-old son of Azzeddine Soufiane, who was killed during the Quebec City mosque attack which was motivated by anti-Muslim animus.

Arsalan Iftikhar, a Muslim-American author and an associate with the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, said the malleability of the ideology also means it can — and has — been used to justify attacks against a range of minority communities.

"Racism is not isolated to any geographic boundary. We're starting to see this metastasize," he said.

Canada's 'great replacement' problem


Even though replacement ideology originated in France, it has since been cited by multiple mass shooters in different countries.

In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, some commentators were quick to blame Fox News host Tucker Carlson and certain Republicans for championing the racist theory. Analysts who study radicalization, however, said it's important to acknowledge it's not an exclusively American problem.

Amarasingam said some Canadian far-right movements have been known to push similar narratives about the majority population being replaced by immigrants, whether or not they use the term "great replacement."

Earlier this year, overlaps between that ideology and the leadership of the so-called Freedom Convoy came to light when previous racist comments made by one of the key organizers surfaced.

In videos circulating on social media, protest leader Pat King speaks about "an endgame," which he said has a goal "to depopulate the Anglo-Saxon race, because they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines."

While the convoy as a whole was not a far-right event, Amarasingam said he is concerned that some of the leaders with far-right beliefs have now gained a following.

"The convoy has given all these people a massive megaphone to play with," he said.

Balgord said beyond rhetoric, you don't have to look far to find violence in Canada inspired by the same type of ideology.

A year ago, a Muslim family was killed in London, Ont., in a crime police said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate.

In 2017, a white 27-year-old man walked into a mosque in Quebec City during prayer, shooting and killing six and seriously wounding dozens of others. The killer later said he was bothered by Canada's openness toward refugees.

During the Quebec City mosque shooter's trial, video of his police interrogation was played. When asked why he chose to attack a mosque, the shooter said he was afraid of terrorist attacks and said he was afraid his family would be "killed by terrorists."

At that time, Balgord said, Canada's new far-right movement was taking shape and focusing on Muslims.

"It wasn't explicitly called 'great replacement theory' everywhere perhaps ... but elements of it are the same," he said.

He said the Quebec City shooter "believed that there was an Islamic and a Muslim takeover of Canada, because those garbage ideas were put in his head by both mainstream and more fringe figures."

The 'fill-in-the-blank, racist conspiracy theory'

Balgord and other analysts said the ideology is a part of a larger ecosystem — each attack that cites the racist conspiracy draws more attention to it.

In fact, the name of the Quebec City mosque shooter was among the names scrawled on an ammunition magazine by the Christchurch shooter. The Buffalo shooter is believed to have extensively researched the Christchurch shooting, according to the results of a preliminary investigation.


© John Kirk-Anderson/Reuters
In a picture from Aug. 24, 2020, Maysoon Salama, mother of Ata Mohammad Ata Elayyan who was killed in the Christchurch, New Zealand shooting, gives a victim impact statement about the loss of her son during. The gunman who killed 51 worshippers at two mosques was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Iftikhar, author of Fear of A Muslim Planet: Global Islamophobia in the New World Order, said there is power in calling these attacks what they are.

"Everyone is more than willing to condemn terrorism whenever a brown Muslim man commits it ... we [should] be as quick to condemn terrorism when a white supremacist does it," he said.

These attacks shouldn't be seen as disconnected or blamed on lone wolves, he said, when they're linked by shared beliefs.

"Sadly, the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory has become the grand unification theory for white supremacists worldwide. It's literally what I call the 'fill-in-the-blank, racist conspiracy theory.'"

Countering white supremacy at the community level

Canada's public safety minister has said the racism and white supremacy behind the Buffalo mass shooting is present in Canada.

In a statement sent to CBC News, a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said the threat of ideologically motivated violent extremism is complex and "fuelled by proponents that are driven by a range of influences rather than a singular belief system."

CSIS said tackling the issue requires "a concerted and co-ordinated effort by intelligence services and law enforcement, in co-operation with civic and community leaders, academic researchers and others."

Non-governmental extremism experts agree. They say addressing far-right hate should ideally happen long before law enforcement needs to get involved.

"The best solutions are located within the community and stopping things before it goes too far," Balgord said.


© Twitter/Reuters
This photo of ammunition appeared on a now-deleted Twitter account from a user whose name matched that of the Christchurch shooter. The names written on the ammunition include Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette and Sebastiano Venier, who led a Christian naval force in a 1571 wartime victory over a Muslim fleet in the Mediterranean.

He said there are concrete actions that can make a difference, such as teaching educators to spot warning signs, providing communities with tools to intervene if someone is going down a path of violent white supremacy, and naming an ombudsperson to work with social media companies to prevent violent radicalization.

If nothing changes, Iftikhar said, hateful violence will simply continue to happen.

"This is a new normal," he said.

"We have to decide, as the human race, if we're going to let our better angels prevail or go in the other direction."


CANADIAN CONSERVATIVE IS A LIBERAL
Avi Benlolo: It's time to replace white nationalists' conspiracy of hate

America is in trouble. The horrific mass shooting in Buffalo last Saturday added another layer of hate and racial division to a nation once dubbed a “melting pot” of differing ethnicities. No more. In a racially motivated shooting spree, a white gunman specifically targeted the Black community — unleashing 50 rounds of bullets in the Tops Supermarket. Shockingly, he murdered 10 Black people in cold blood — six females and four males ranging from the age of 32 to 86.


© Provided by National Post
People look at a memorial in the wake of the May 14, 2022 shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., that left 10 dead.

What motivated the 18-year-old suspect to unleash violence on his fellow citizens? Authorities indicate it was the same white-nationalist sentiment that also led to mass shootings in 2018 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and in 2019 at Chabad of Poway. A total of 12 Jewish worshippers were murdered in those attacks by two lone male gunmen motivated by a white-nationalist racist ideology known as “replacement” theory.

It’s not the theory itself that is mainstreaming from the fringe, as many commentators have contended in recent days. It’s that white supremacism itself is mainstreaming, growing in numbers and accelerating the threat to such minority groups as Black and Jewish people and to America itself. A racist screed reportedly posted online by the Tops supermarket suspect outlined the so-called “great replacement” theory — a white-nationalist belief in a conspiracy to diminish the power and influence of white people and in effect, replace them in America.

One might argue that America has always had a massive racial divide going all the way back to slavery. Henry Ford himself capitalized on antisemitism and convinced millions of Americans that Jewish people were out to control the world. Ford published a series of pamphlets in the 1920s arguing that the “international Jew” was “the world’s foremost problem,” thereby unleashing hateful conspiracy theories that accused Jewish people of everything from agricultural depression to strikes and financial manipulation. This screed would strengthen white-nationalist belief systems, particularly as Nazi ideology began taking hold

White-nationalists take their inspiration from Nazism — the original ideology pursuing racial supremacy for a white, so-called “Aryan race.” The Nazis’ plan was to ethnically cleanse all minority and racial groups including the Jewish and Black communities — whom they described as inferior races. The Old Testament of America’s white-nationalist movement might be Hitler’s racist screed Mein Kampf, but the movement’s New Testament is “The Turner Diaries.” Published in 1978, it’s a fictional novel written by William Luther Pierce about a violent race-motivated revolution in America in which whites exterminate non-whites.

Although white nationalists have a long laundry list of hate, Black and Jewish communities are their prime targets. America realized it was asleep at the wheel when in 2017, white nationalists marching at Charlottesville, Va., chanted “Jews will not replace us!” and “You will not replace us!” We were all still trying to figure out what they meant. Who would want to replace such vile people anyway?

Since Charlottesville, there have been at least three violent white-supremacist attacks on American soil. Similar international mass murders took place in Norway at a summer camp in 2011 in which 77 people were murdered; at a Quebec mosque in 2017 when six Muslim worshippers were killed; and in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, when 51 Muslim worshippers were murdered. It’s no wonder that intelligence agencies including the FBI in America and CSIS in Canada have reportedly placed white-nationalist movements high on their threat lists.

The Black, Jewish and Muslim communities have all been victims of violent racism and prejudices and need to be unified, not divided, in order to protect themselves. It’s time for all minority groups to have empathy and call out hate against others. More importantly, the majority must stand with them and against the mainstreaming of the replacement theory, which threatens not only minority groups, but society itself.

Avi Benlolo 
National Post

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