There are No "Lone Wolves"

Building on the work of Kathleen Belew and others, the Times editorial board argues that recent episodes of racial terrorism are part of a global white nationalist movement. 

Reece Jones on How "Great Replacement" Idea Revived

"Thanks to the great replacement theory, the people that once forcibly colonised much of the rest of the world can cast themselves as oppressed victims."

Another Tragic Eruption of "Great Replacement" Violence

by Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin

"While the specific targets and methods of spreading this theory may be new, White native-born Americans worrying about being replaced is not. And history demonstrates that the theory has been repeatedly used to legitimize discrimination and deadly violence."

There is a Real "Great Replacement" – But Not the One the Right Talks About

by Guy Lancaster

Arkansas history shows how the true Great Replacement in the United States has been organized by oligarchs hoping to use immigrant labor to undercut Black people's demands for economic fairness and human rights. 

White Replacement Theory is Fascism's New Name

by Jason Stanley and Federico Finchelstein

The global adoption of the idea of ethnic replacement by right-wing politicians is a repackaging of the themes of Jim Crow racism, eugenics and fascism. 

Banning Abortion and The Buffalo Shooting are Connected

by Mytheli Sreenivas

The seeming coincidence of the Buffalo shooter's "Great Replacement" manifesto and the leaked Supreme Court decision actually highlights the way that women's reproductive freedoms are central to the politics of race and demography. 

Is the Left Involved in its Own "Great Replacement"?

by Cathy Young

No – while the Democrats have been publicly (and perhaps unjustifiably) confident that demographic change favors their electoral interests, the right is bringing a racist conspiracy theory from the fringes to the mainstream.

"Great Replacement" Shows how Many Americans Have Embraced Whites-Only Democracy

by Adam Serwer

Whether they blame a secret cabal of elites or the Democratic Party, proponents of "replacement" rhetoric share a belief that legitimate citizenship is racially exclusive and that legitimate elections require white voters to get what they want, echoing anti-immigrant and eugenics rhetoric of the early 20th century.

Historians on the Mainstreaming of the "Great Replacement" Myth

by HNN Staff

This conspiratorial claim of a plot by elites to replace whites with nonwhite and immigrant voters has moved from the far-right fringe to cable news and appears to have played a part in the radicalization of several mass shooters. Historians discuss what it is and what it means. 

"Great Replacement" Rhetoric has not Historically Been Out of Place in the Halls of Power

Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo published a book in 1947 declaring that the failure to ensure racial segregation and Anglo-Saxon supremacy would lead to the destruction of American civilization. 

Isaac Chotiner Interviews Kathleen Belew on White Power and the Buffalo Mass Shooting

"The idea is simply that many different kinds of social change are connected to a plot by a cabal of élites to eradicate the white race, which people in this movement believe is their nation."

Kathleen Belew: Buffalo Massacre Likely Driven by "Great Replacement" Myth

"A man accused of killing 10 people in Buffalo, New York was allegedly motivated by a racist doctrine known as 'replacement theory.' It's just a new name for an old set of racial hatreds, Kathleen Belew told NPR."

Buffalo Shooting Exposes How History Shapes the Present

by Chad Williams

"Buffalo’s unique history of African American freedom, civil rights struggle and perseverance in the face of structural racism and economic neglect remind us of why Gendron targeted this particular community and why this shooting is especially heinous."

Buffalo Shooting Reflects Deeply Rooted American Ideas

by Jesse Curtis

Labeling the so-called "Great Replacement" a conspiracy theory obscures how closely it hews to commonplace American ideas about race, nation, and who is entitled to rule. 

Buffalo Mass Shooting Demands We Think About American Racism

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

The gunman's manifesto shows the dangerous convergence on the right of anti-Black racism and a belief in white persecution. It also shows why the right is working so hard to fight teaching about racism in history classes. 

Racist "Replacement" Theory Goes Mainstream

"White replacement theory" posits the existence of a plot to change America's racial composition by methodically enacting policies that reduce white Americans' political power. It's moved from the fringes of the hard right to the mainstream of conservative media and some Republican politicians.