THE REPUBLICAN ROLE IN THE BUFFALO SLAUGHTER
The Republican leadership’s embrace of the Great Replacement Theory feeds White nationalism, White supremacy, and anti-semitism.
QUICK READ: Republicans have been using racism since Nixon’s day. Now, they’ve weaponized a new racist conspiracy theory to further frighten White people. The Great Replacement Theory plays on fears that minorities are replacing White culture and power. It has become an “engine of racist terror.” Racists marched in Charlottesville, VA, shouting, “we will not be replaced.” Now they’re shooting “replacers” in New Zealand, El Paso, Charlestown, and Buffalo. This rhetoric is lethal.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
BACKGROUND
Last week, a White supremacist slaughtered “replacers” in a Buffalo, NY, grocery store. The manufactured fear that minorities are replacing White culture and power has become an “engine of racist terror,” helping inspire a wave of mass shootings in recent years.
Nearly half of all Republicans believe the warnings of their conservative leaders that White people will soon become a minority and their votes will be replaced by “obedient” immigrants and Black people indebted to Democrats.
“(T)he Dems are “trying to ‘replace’ the current electorate … with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” fumed Tucker Carlson.
Elise Stefanik, the number three Republican in the House, warned Democrats were engaged in a “PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION.”
“This “cultural genocide,’” Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted, “calls for patriots to stand up …”
Racism works for Republicans. They weaponized the Great Replacement Theory to inflame racial animosities and magnify fears of immigrants, which, along with Republican support of guns, makes mass murders inevitable.
Within days of the shooting, Republican Rep. Liz Chaney called out Republicans: “The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism.”
Leaders must denounce these views, and those who use them, and instead celebrate our diversity.
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
Script for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
Script for Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
Script for Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Salem office: 503-588-9100 | DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Please forcefully reject the racism inherent in the Great Replacement Theory, and celebrate the diversity of America.
ACTION 3: GOOD TROUBLE
GOOD TROUBLE: Below are opportunities to fight for our democracy. As John Lewis said, go make some “good trouble.”
Join the nationwide abortion rally May 14.
Find out more about Indivisible Oregon here.
TUESDAY 11:30am-12:30pm LETTER WRITING PARTY - INDIVISIBLE OREGON:
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/442887/Fridays at 4 - Letter and Postcard Writing — Indivisible Oregon.
Learn about persuasive language and communication research at the Zoom ASO Movement Briefings every second Wednesday.
Join the campaign to hold the House and Senate at GiveNoGround.org
Work to protect democracy in the House by replacing retiring US Representative Peter DeFazio with another Democrat, replacing Democrat Kurt Schrader, the “Manchin of the House,” with a progressive, and electing a Democrat in Oregon’s new Congressional District 6.
Demand that your primary news source stop creating false equivalencies and just report the truth.
Check out the Poor People's Campaign Readies 'Massive, Nonviolent' Effort to Save Democracy
Outside of Portland? Check out COIN Oregon.
Rally inconsisent Democratic voters to vote in 2022 with Progressive Turnout Project | Feb, 2022 | Medium
FURTHER READING:
Nearly half of Republicans agree with ‘great replacement theory’ - The Washington Post
American Racism and the Buffalo Shooting | The New Yorker
How ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ Fuels Extremism and Fear - The New York Times
Making Sense of the Racist Mass Shooting in Buffalo | The New Yorker
How White Victimhood Fuels Republican Politics | FiveThirtyEight
A compendium of racism in the Republican Party | The Outline
