The ideology has long been a justification for acts of violence.
 | By Jyoti Thottam Editorials Editor |
A French writer, Renaud Camus, introduced the term "The Great Replacement" in the title of his 2011 book, describing what he saw as a conspiracy by French elites to open the country to Muslim immigrants to "replace" the ethnically French population. The phrase, or more broadly, "replacement theory," was used to justify violence in the deadly racist attack in Buffalo, New York, and before that, in mass killings in Charleston, S.C., Pittsburgh, Christchurch, New Zealand and El Paso, Texas. |
But while "replacement theory" has gained notoriety over the last decade, it is not entirely a new idea. As the Times editorial board notes, "these attacks are not random acts; they are part of the long American history of political violence perpetrated by white supremacists against Blacks and other minority groups." |
Kathleen Belew, a historian and author of "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America," traces replacement theory back to 19th-century American politics, in her essay for Times Opinion. "Worries about the body politic and threats to the racial composition of the nation inspired eugenics campaigns, anti-immigration activists, and other Progressives, including Theodore Roosevelt," she writes. |
This essay and our editorial try to help Times readers understand the history and context of this ideology, but they also make an argument about the consequences for American society when it moves from the fringes to the mainstream of political discourse. As Belew writes, "Replacement theory is about the violent defense of whiteness." And the editorial board asks you to consider the troubling implications for the health of the American polity: "Replacement theory is an attack on democracy. It privileges the purported interests of some Americans over those of others, asserting, in effect, that the will of the people means the will of white people." |
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