History shows that ethnic and racial diversity has proved to be renewal, not replacement, writes Glenn C. Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, in Washington Post commentary.
“Payton Gendron, who was indicted by a grand jury for killing 10 people May 14 at a Tops Friendly Markets in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, repeatedly cited “the great replacement” theory as his motive for the shooting, according to authorities,” Altschuler writes in the piece with co-author 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.”
