The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE K A21

TUESDAY Opinion

T

his past weekend’s massacre in Buf- falo has put a deserved spotlight on Elise Stefanik, Tucker Carlson, Newt Gingrich, Matt Gaetz, J.D. Vance and others trafficking in the racist “Great Replace- ment” conspiracy theory. But the problem goes well beyond the rhetoric of a few Republican officials and opinion leaders. Elected Republicans haven’t merely inspired far-right extremists. They have become far-right extremists. A new report shows just how extensively the two groups have intertwined. The study, released on Friday by the Insti- tute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a decades-old group that tracks right- wing extremism, found that more than 1 in 5 Republican state legislators in the United States were affiliated with far-right groups. The IREHR (which conducted a similar study with the NAACP in 2010 on racism within the tea party) cross-referenced the personal, cam- paign and official Facebook profiles of all 7,383 state legislators in the United States during the 2021-2022 legislative period with thousands of far-right Facebook groups. The researchers found that 875 legislators — all but three of them Republicans — were members of one or more of 789 far-right Facebook groups. That works out to 22 percent of all Republican state legislators. “The ideas of the far right have moved pretty substantially into the mainstream,” Devin Burghart, IREHR’s executive director, told me on Monday, “not only as the basis for acts of violence but as the basis for public policy.” The far-right groups range from new itera- tions of the tea party and certain antiabortion and Second Amendment groups to white nationalists, neo-Confederates and sovereign citizen entities that claim to be exempt from U.S. law. The IREHR largely excluded from its list membership in historically mainstream conservative groups such as the National Rifle Association and in pro-Trump and MAGA groups, focusing instead on more radical groups defined by nationalism or antidemo- cratic purposes. Some might call the IREHR’s list overly broad. But Burghart says the study under- states the true overlap between the legislators and the far right. During this time, Facebook was trying to shut down white-nationalist, QAnon, Three Percenter and “Stop the Steal” groups and their like, which reconstituted or migrated to other platforms. Many others kept their members’ identities protected. Three-quarters of the far-right legislators are men, and they are distributed across all 50 states, with the highest percentages of memberships found in Alaska, Arkansas, Ida- ho, Montana, Washington, Minnesota, Maine and Missouri. Some of these far-right figures already have high profiles. ProPublica last fall identified 48 Republican state and local govern- ment officials — including 10 sitting state lawmakers — on the membership roster of the Oath Keepers, a militant extremist group. One Arizona state senator, Wendy Rogers, gained national attention for a speech to a white-nationalist conference in February during which she called for violence. Her remarks to the gathering (which Reps. Marjo- rie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) also addressed) earned her a rebuke by her fellow GOP state senators but proved to be a fundraising bonanza. Another who attended the white-nationalist conference, Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, is challeng- ing Gov. Brad Little in Tuesday’s Republican primary. The IREHR report identifies more obscure figures: posse comitatus adherents in New Hampshire and Florida, paramilitary enthu- siasts in Idaho and Arizona, as well as covid-denial and voter suppression activists everywhere. Burghart said proponents of “replacement theory” come from all categories of the far right and have been growing in number since Fox News’s Carlson has been championing their conspiracy claims. Though based in actual demographic trends — Americans of color will gradually become a majority in coming decades — “Great Replacement” holds that Democrats and the left are conspiring by nefarious means to supplant White people. This idea, expressed by the alleged Buffalo killer (11 of the gunman’s 13 victims were Black), has found support from Stefanik (N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican. She accused Democrats of “a PERMANENT ELEC- TION INSURRECTION” in the form of an immigration amnesty plan that would “over- throw our current electorate.” Variations of this have been heard from Republicans such as: Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus (“we’re replacing... native-born Americans to permanently transform the political land- scape”); Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (Democrats “want to remake the demograph- ics of America to ensure... that they stay in power forever”); Rep. Gaetz of Florida (Carl- son “is CORRECT about Replacement Theo- ry”); Vance, the party’s Senate nominee for Ohio (“Biden’s open border is killing Ohioans, with... more Democrat voters pouring into this country”); and Gingrich, former Republi- can House speaker (“the anti-American left would love to drown traditional, classic Amer- icans... to get rid of the rest of us”). Are these people directly responsible for the massacre in Buffalo? Of course not. But they, like the 1 in 5 Republican state legislators trafficking in far-right groups, have main- streamed the extreme. The consequences have been, and will continue to be, catastrophic.

DANA MILBANK

Republicans

are bringing

extremism to

the mainstream

Q

ueen Elizabeth II has lately been making a case for her own abdication. The 96-year-old queen’s absence from the state opening of Parliament — owing to what Buck- ingham Palace gently referred to as “mobility problems” — is just the latest high-profile absence of the once- u nstoppable queen. (After the queen arrived at a Royal Windsor Horse Show tribute event on Sunday, a host jokingly thanked her for “choosing us over the state opening of Parliament.”) A British tabloid reported last month that the queen’s aides plan to confirm her attendance at future events only a few hours before. When she is present, her advancing age is being accommodated: At a March service honoring her late husband, Prince Philip, she entered Westminster Abbey through a side door to avoid walking the church’s lengthy nave. This all speaks to more than just someone’s aversion to being seen in a wheelchair. The queen’s longevity and dedication to duty have become her adversary. As an American, I have no stake in the outcome. But as a long- time royal watcher, I see why it would be good for her, and her successors, if she steps aside. Yes, the prospect of abdication is as foreign to this queen as taking the Tube or simply standing in line. As a child, Elizabeth was raised to priori- tize duty over all else, effectively repu- diating the choice her uncle King Ed- ward VIII made in 1936. When she turned 21, she famously declared that “my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” Little did she know. A service to mark Elizabeth’s 70-year reign will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral next month. She has already fulfilled her promise of a lifetime of service. No one would fault her for stepping aside now. If anything, she’d be around to enjoy the praise for her decades of uncomplaining, hand- waving, national symbolism. (Eliza- beth could transfer her powers to her eldest son, in what’s called a regency, but that is likely as repellent to this queen as abdication.) The question is what will her reign become if she is not well enough to actually be seen — even in ceremonial roles? Some considerations are simply human: When Philip died last April, age 99, he had retired from royal duties more than four years before. The queen recognized that her spouse had earned a rest. How satisfying might it have been if both had stepped away from public life and had more time together in his final years? The queen has devoted her life to her work, but her existence as monarch and head of state is also singularly lonely. Almost all of the loved ones she grew old with have passed away. Stepping down could give her a few years of relative normality, perhaps filled with the dogs, horses and other elements of country living she enjoys. Stepping aside would also hurry her relatives into realizing that they’re running out of time to justify their subsidized existence. Already there are ample signs that the royal family is tone-deaf to questions about its rel- evance. Consider the negative recep- tion that greeted Prince William and his wife in March when they visited the Caribbean in honor of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee. In Belize, the couple skipped their first planned stop amid protests by locals. In Jamaica, the prime minister announced that the country desires “full political inde- pendence.” In the Bahamas, a commit- tee on reparations demanded a formal apology. Despite widespread criticism of the tour, little in the royal playbook appeared to have changed when the queen’s youngest son, Edward, and his wife, Sophie, traveled to the region in April — and also faced a backlash. Although the queen’s long reign has provided stability during her relatives’ many and varied scandals, future generations of Windsors lack the goodwill she has banked. It is only a matter of time before more people demand a monarch who reflects modern life and can make an affirmative case for maintaining a royal family in the 21st century. The queen is already focused on succession. She has spoken up on sensi- tive issues to quash debates that could mar her eldest son’s accession, advocat- ing that Prince Charles be the next Commonwealth leader and that his wife, Camilla, be known as queen con- sort. Her experience gives her credibili- ty that others lack to propose signifi- cant changes, such as limiting future reigns. After the jubilee celebrations next month, Elizabeth could step aside as part of a royal modernization, help- ing to launch her son’s kingship. As age inhibits her further, she does her family, and herself, little good by waiting.

AUTUMN BREWINGTON

Queen

Elizabeth

has done

enough

T

he so-called great replacement theory that helped mo- tivate the 18-year-old alleged gunman in his reign of terror at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday is often presented as a fringe ideology. But understand this: Large numbers of people have embraced the core fears at the heart of GRT as an organizing truth in their politics, their lives and their expectations to explain a future that feels out of their control. That won’t likely change unless some White people work overtime to counterprogram the replacement narrative. This is the necessary work of White Americans because minorities cannot alone dismantle an ex- ploitive brand of fearmongering that is built around their very existence. A poll released just last week found that GRT has gone mainstream, with one-third of American adults saying they think there is a deliberate effort to replace native- born U.S. citizens with a wave of immigrants for political gain. That same poll found that nearly half of Republicans agree to some extent that there’s a deliberate intent to increase the numbers of immigrant voters to minimize the cultural and political influence of Whites. Those numbers should not be all that surprising. If you have spent any time examining how minorities in this country have been treated, you might reasonably be concerned about becoming one. That hard truth does not in any way justify the tenets of GRT. It is rooted in racist and baseless beliefs about innate superiority and unquestionable white privilege. And it has gained traction quickly because politicians and right-wing screeds are working overtime to amplify the fear that White people are losing their place as the comfortable majority in the United States. I am going to be careful here in saying that not all people who em- brace some part of GRT are white

supremacists. But GRT is firmly rooted in white-supremacist ideology. It comes from a fear of losing automatic entitlements and oppor- tunities if different people are al- lowed to stand as equals. It feeds on the worry that Whiteness is no longer the organizing force in every- thing that is understood to be quint- essentially American, from history to beauty standards. Whiteness in the United States has been socially engineered to be defined as the dom- inant cultural default, and majority status was the guarantee against that claim. A shift away from that has ushered in a period of tumult and vertigo for a growing number of people with the anxiety of not knowing what comes next. The U.S. population is becoming more diverse while the White population is aging and producing fewer children. Less than half of U.S. children under 15 are now non-Hispanic Whites, according to the census. The most common age for Whites in the United States in 2018 was 58, according to the Pew Research Center. For the minority population, the most common age was 27. We are now seeing, on a regular basis, just how incited and radical- ized some maniacal Americans have become about these trends. We saw that tragically this weekend in Buf- falo, where the gunman reportedly drove three hours specifically to tar- get innocent Black shoppers at a gro- cery store. We saw it in Charlottes- ville, where white nationalists spew- ing venom toward racial minorities and Jews carried torches and shout- ed, “You will not replace us.” GRT is like the fertilizer that feeds and sustains white fear when Ameri- ca’s racial makeup is changing. These trends will continue and how that is explained — or alternatively exploited — will impact the safety and security of all Americans. But Black and brown people cannot in-

oculate against fears that Whiteness is no longer America’s cultural default. White people have to do that themselves. White Americans who care about democracy, who believe in the prin- ciples of fairness and equality, who believe that “we” is a more powerful word than “them,” need to step into this space armed with facts and righ- teous truths. White politicians, White business leaders, White cler- ics, White educators, White leaders and White influencers need to denounce the supremacist agenda at the core of GRT. White Americans who say they are repulsed by that agenda need to get used to talking about white supremacy and the way fears about Black and brown people have historically been used to drive up gun sales and create a populist, vigilante agenda. The two words “white supremacy” make some people uncomfortable, exhausted or defensive. Well, you can’t solve a problem you are unwill- ing to name. The fact that our diversity is part of our strength needs to be trumpet- ed, and White folks are the ones who need to be saying that. The fact that so many families are already diverse is part of the story that needs to be told. The people who lead diverse communities in sport, religion, education and the workplace need to speak up and demonstrate that Americans of various backgrounds can coexist and move together toward a common goal. Not everyone who has drifted toward GRT will let go of the false hope and succor it provides. But GRT rose on the wind of fabricated rhetoric, and it will continue to flourish without a counter-narrative based on truth. When so much is at stake, silence is no longer an option. Don’t expect Black and brown people to defuse the time bomb they did not create.

MICHELE L. NORRIS

White Americans must

denounce white supremacy

EVELYN HOCKSTEIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Participants at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in August 2017.

too.” Nearby was a line of shallow tubs filled with rainwater. The women had to use the water both to bathe and drink. We entered an enclosed area with a black-painted gate in the wall that faced the sea. A typewritten sign identified it as “The Gate of No Return.” On the ground lay what looked like a an old link from a heavy chain. Bellah told me that when the overseers felt that captives were making trouble, they would chain them lying face-up on the ground, to expose their eyes to the burning sun. To the left of the Gate of No Return was the holding cell for captives about to be put on slave ships for the treacherous voyage to the Americas. Words painted on one wall read in part, “Welcome For Spiritual Reconnection With Ancestors Who Were Brutally Uprooted From Their Natural Abode.” Bellah said people believe the ancestors’ connection is fused into the very stones: Splotches of green coloration are where there were bloodstains. Bits of skin and fingernails are embedded where desperate people tried to claw their way out. The bones of those who died before they were shipped out were ground up to build parts of the wall. It was hard to not be overtaken by the gruesomeness of it all. “But, you know, people come here for healing,” Bellah said. He pointed to empty bottles on the floor: They had held libations offered by modern Afri- cans to the souls who had suffered in that space, and he has heard some say a visit cured their illnesses. Outside the fort, Bellah plucked some herbs growing among the ruins, known locally as ebo- mah. “This is good to take to improve

KETA, Ghana

B

wap, bwap, bwap. Bellah Ibra- him, my tour guide for the day, was trying to whack the broken sides of a wooden table together with his hands. It wasn’t working. We were in one of the inner rooms of Fort Prinzenstein, a former slaveholding depot on the coast of Ghana — or at least, the part of the site not yet devoured by the surrounding seas. Atop the crumbling table inside the crumbling fort was a miniature replica of what the structure looked like in its full, oppressive glory when it was built by the Danes in 1784. I was looking at centuries-old chairs that were used by the slave overseers and perusing illustrations of enslaved Afri- cans being chained, inspected and sold by their European masters. Bwap bwap, bwap. I turned to add my two cents’ worth of construction advice. “ You’ll probably need to get some nails.” “You are right,” Bellah said. “Come, we will finish the tour, and I’ll find some.” Classified as a UNESCO World Heri- tage site, Fort Prinzenstein is much smaller and less famous than the slave forts at Elmina and Cape Coast, some 200 miles west, and it attracts far fewer tourists — in fact, I was the only visitor that afternoon. Unfortunately, as rising seas relentlessly erode the site, I may be among the last. Bellah, who walks with a limp, showed me the dungeons for captured women. He pointed out the remains of a holding cell that couldn’t have been bigger than 10 by 15 feet. “They would put 50 to 100 women in there,” he said. “And they were forced to eat in there,

fertility,” he said, smiling. “Especially for men.” Maybe the stories about the bloodstains and healing and herbs are true, and maybe they aren’t; the Ewe people of this region are known — even feared — for their intense spiritual practices. But it almost doesn’t matter. Bellah, who has been a tour guide for 10 years, told me he’d spent a good amount of that time collecting the stories of local elders from the area. Hoping to bring visitors to Fort Prinzenstein, he’s doing his best to construct compelling narratives — narratives showing that life and healing can exist on the site of death and suffering. That beyond their value as a historical site, the ruins have a sacredness, a spirituality. That we have a duty to honor the Africans who suffered or died within these walls. This is why the fort’s pending demise is so unfortunate. The sea had already claimed a large portion of the site by 1980, and from what I could find, there has been a lot of discussion since then but no large-scale action to preserve what remains. Like so many other historical markers of Black burial and death, in both Africa and the Americas, Fort Prinzenstein is at risk of being lost — in this case, within a few decades. Bellah left me to walk around the ruins alone. Clink clink clink — I could hear him back at work on the broken desk, using a rock and some scavenged nails to hammer it back together. An- other day, another small attempt to save a piece of painful history — to stave off destruction in the name of those whose lives were destroyed.

KAREN ATTIAH

This African slave fort should be preserved

The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources