People gather outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY, Sunday, May 15, 2022.
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People gather outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY, Sunday, May 15, 2022.
Matt Rourke / AP
The authorities are call the mass shooting on Saturday in Buffalo, NY, a racially motivated attack. The alleged suspect wrote 180 pages document filled with hateful slurs about race and ties to the “Great Alternative.” Here’s what you need to know about this particular conspiracy theory.
What is a “great alternative”?
In short, the “Great Alternative” is a conspiracy theory that claims that non-white individuals are being brought into the United States and other Western countries to “replace” white voters in order to achieve a political agenda. It is often touted by anti-immigrant groups, white supremacists and others, according to National Immigration Forum.
White supremacists argue that the wave of immigration, more specifically people of color, will lead to the extinction of the white race.
Similar to mass extremists, Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old white male accused of killing 10 people and injuring 3 others in Buffalo, allegedly said in his news release that the rate reduction was White birth is tantamount to a genocide.
The alleged supermarket shooter and other extremists claim the US must close its borders to immigrants.
The “Great Alternative” theory is sometimes viewed in other ways, such as claiming to have replaced voters and immigrants to invade the United States, the National Immigration Forum said. The first statement assumes that immigrants and non-whites will vote a certain way, which will eventually overwhelm white Americans’ votes.
Adolphus Belk Jr., a professor of political science and African-American studies at Winthrop University, said white nationalist movements arose when people of color were perceived as a threat in the field. political and economic fields.
Belk said white nationalists worry that “whites will no longer make up the majority of the general population but become the majority, and see that as a threat to their own happiness.” them and the country.”
Where did this theory come from?
The “Great Alternative” theory has its roots in French nationalism books dating back to the early 1900s, according to Anti-Defamation League (ADL). However, the theory in more modern use is attributed to Renaud Camus, a French writer who wrote “Le Grand Remplacement”. “Great Alternative”) in 2011.
French writer and critic Renaud Camus.
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French writer and critic Renaud Camus.
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Camus’ writing was influenced by another French author, Jean Raspail, who wrote the 1973 novel, Camp of the SaintsADL tells a fictional story about migrants rallying together to take over France.
According to the ADL, white supremacists blame Jews for non-white immigration to the US, and the existing alternative theory concerns anti-Semitism.
A core belief in the white radical movement is the 14-word slogan, “We must ensure the survival of our people and the future for white children,” according to Southern Poverty Law Centerwas coined by David Lane, a member of the white extremist group The Order.
Protesters in Charlottesville, Va., August 12, 2017. White supremacists at the rallies chanted, “The Jews will not replace us!”, alluding to The “Great Alternative” theory.
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Protesters in Charlottesville, Va., August 12, 2017. White supremacists at the rallies chanted, “The Jews will not replace us!”, alluding to The “Great Alternative” theory.
Steve Helber / AP
Fast-forward to August 2017, when white nationalists regroup at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Demonstrators chanted, “The Jews will not replace us!”
“The Great Alternative” and Its Role in Hate Crimes
The Buffalo shooting suspect is just one of many examples of violence that has been dubbed the “Great Alternative”.
United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security hold a hearing on the rise of hate crimes and white nationalism in April 2019. New York Representative and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler later described the matter as “an urgent crisis in our country.”
“Unfortunately, various statistics confirm what most of us have observed, that hate crimes are on the rise in the United States,” Nadler said. “This increase has occurred during a period of disturbing increases in white nationalism in our country and around the globe.”
A person stops in front of Stars of David with the names of those who were killed in the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, in Pittsburgh, October 29, 2018.
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A person stops in front of Stars of David with the names of those who were killed in the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, in Pittsburgh, October 29, 2018.
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He listed several racially motivated attacks: 9 people were killed at a church in South Carolina in 2015; 11 at a Pennsylvania synagogue in 2018; 50 people were shot dead at a New Zealand mosque in 2019.
What makes extremist individuals and white nationalist groups dangerous, says Belk, is the amount of time they are willing to take to defend their place in society.
“They are ready to use whatever means are available to them to maintain and defend their place in society… it’s almost like a kind of jihad, a conflict, where they find themselves carrying on. take direct action on offending cultures and people by removing them,” Belk said.
Suspect in custody for Buffalo’s most recent mass shooting from Broome County, NY, about 200 miles away, to carry out his attack, according to police. Most of the victims were Black.
