Buffalo shooting: What is ‘great replacement theory?’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Detectives believe the shooter suspected of killing 10 people Saturday at a grocery store in a predominately Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, subscribed to the “great replacement theory.”
“We’re dealing with people who would rather believe than think,” said Lasana Kazembe, an Indiana University professor of African studies. “When you peel back the layers on all of that chronology, all of that history, which you see at the at the very core of it, is fears over a dark immigrant replacing white people.”
Kazembe tells I-Team 8 the conspiracy theory has been around since the 1900s, evolving in America and, he says, in many ways, increasing.
“I started saying to my students over 15 years ago that we are going to have to brace ourselves and prepare for 80 to 90 years of intense racial strife,” he said.
Doug Kouns, a former FBI agent and chief executive officer of private-investigator company Veracity IIR, agrees with the professor that hate crimes are increasing throughout the nation.
“These lone operators, ‘lone wolves,’ as we used to call them are, they’re the most problematic. … (They’re) so isolated it’s hard for them to appear on the law enforcement radar,” Kouns said.
The former FBI agent says, even when someone is investigated, legal limitations often play a role in the thin line between free speech and someone who would actually commit a violent attack.
“You can’t just say,’ This guy posted something disturbing on social media’ (and) ‘Put a wiretap on this phone.’ It just doesn’t happen that way. There’s a whole lot of steps to legally get to that level,” Kouns said.
The IU professor says the best way to eliminate conspiracy theories like the “great replacement” is through education. “Tell the truth. Teach the children. Spread love.”
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Definition of ‘great replacement theory’
“The ‘great replacement’ theory, in simple terms, states that welcoming immigration policies — particularly those impacting nonwhite immigrants — are part of a plot designed to undermine or ‘replace’ the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.
“Multiple iterations of the ‘great replacement’ theory have been and continue to be used by anti-immigrant groups, white supremacists, and others. Prominent iterations include:
“– Rhetoric of invasion: The theory often uses martial and violent rhetoric of a migrant ‘invasion’ that must be stopped before it ‘conquers’ ‘white America.’
“– Voter replacement: The theory also sometimes incorporates the inaccurate assumption that non-white immigrants will vote a certain way, and therefore pro-immigration policies are designed by elites to diminish the political influence of white Americans.
“– Antisemitism: In still other iterations, the theory can be found embedded in a web of other xenophobic conspiracies, including antisemitic notions that Jewish elites are responsible for the ‘replacement’ plot.”
National Immigration Forum
Resource
How can you combat the rise of the theory? The National Immigration Forum has some resources in a document.