Opinion
Equity & Diversity Opinion

The ‘Great Replacement Theory’ Is a Lie. It’s Also a Threat to Schools

What the hateful ideology behind the Buffalo shooting means for educators
By Jonathan E. Collins — May 19, 2022 3 min read
Signs, balloons, and police tape are wrapped around a pole across from Tops Friendly Market, the Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store that was the site of a racist shooting rampage.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

America had its latest experience this past Friday with racial hatred. The 18-year-old alleged gunman drove more than 200 miles to a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y. Dressed in military tactical gear and body armor that included a helmet with a video camera implanted, the assailant opened fire in the parking lot, killing three before running into the store and killing another 10, according to official accounts. Of the 13 victims, 11 were Black. It’s an American horror story.

It turns out that the suspected shooter had become deeply immersed in white supremacist propaganda. In particular, the alleged mass killer had come to embrace what white nationalists are calling “the great replacement theory,” or GRT.

Tracing back to a conspiracy promulgated by French novelist Renaud Camus, GRT is the notion that members of white ethnic groups of developed countries are being “replaced” by people of color. This replacement is being facilitated by “replacist elites” who are complicit in a larger project to facilitate demographic change, primarily through immigration and controlling the birthrate. It paints an empirically false, sensationalized picture of white citizens being under threat of social and political domination.

GRT’s lack of credibility, however, does not prevent the idea from being an obstacle for our teachers, school administrators, and our education policymakers. While the GRT fears are unfounded, the concerted attack on Black Americans, and especially Black children in schools, is very real.

According to the FBI’s 2020 crime-statistics report, we experienced the largest amount of hate crimes in over a decade. The plurality of crimes were race-related, and Black Americans were the group most likely to be targeted. The U.S. Government Accountability Office found the same trend in public schools in 2018; hate speech and hate crimes tended to be racially motivated and targeted toward Black students and other students of color. Over 10,000 of those hate crimes involved an attack with a weapon—more than double the number from the previous year. These are the costs of the spread of spurious ideas like GRT.

The effects of these hateful narratives are not limited to physical violence. While white nationalist ideologies continue to fuel the motivations for racial hate crimes, schooling strategies that aim to undermine the spread of racial hatred have been under attack at the policy level. As of now, at least 17 states have signed bills or resolutions that restrict teachers’ ability to teach about race or discuss racial issues. This means that teachers can be terminated or even sued should their lesson plan’s treatment of race make a parent feel uncomfortable.

And it’s not just teachers who are vulnerable. In Georgia, for instance, the ban is at the school level, which makes school administrators vulnerable.

There are more policy changes on the way. At least another 11 states have bills in their chambers that are at various stages of the legislative process. By 2023, the majority of states could very well have some sort of ban in place that essentially puts teachers’ careers in jeopardy should they discuss race with their students.

These policies have real consequences. Kids have access to all kinds of dangerous ideas—like the great replacement theory—that promote white supremacy and racial violence. There is evidence that the Buffalo shooter suspect wrote an entire manifesto declaring himself a fascist and white supremacist who has been radicalized by information on the internet. He acted upon that which he studied.

There is good news. There is an entire line of empirical research suggesting that anti-racist teaching reduces student prejudices. We have the tools to stop this. But how can we prevent the next Buffalo-like tragedy if teachers face threats when teaching about race?

Dangerous conspiratorial ideas like the great replacement theory are likely going to continue to spread. White nationalists and white supremacists will continue to target the American education system with their particular disdain. Both blue and red states have been investing more in education, putting more and more resources toward supporting students with disadvantages and working to shrink gaps in academic performance and opportunity. Some will see this progress as a threat.

We cannot let them win.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the June 01, 2022 edition of Education Week as The Grave Education Consequences Of the ‘Great Replacement’ Lie

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP
Equity & Diversity Q&A The Lily Gladstone Effect: A Teacher Explains the Value of Indigenous Language Immersion
Students in the Browning public schools district in Montana engage in a Blackfoot language immersion program for all ages.
5 min read
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP
Equity & Diversity What the Research Says Suburban Segregation Is Rising. What States and Districts Can Do
New research finds existing policy levers have failed to stop rising suburban racial segregation.
4 min read
Meghan Kelly, a project manager with the Whirlpool Corp., works with students at Benton Harbor Charter School in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2019., to develop apps as part of the goIT computer science program.
Meghan Kelly, a project manager with the Whirlpool Corp., works with students at Benton Harbor Charter School in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2019., to develop apps as part of the goIT computer science program.
Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP
Equity & Diversity District Under Federal Investigation Following Death of Nonbinary Student Nex Benedict
A federal investigation into the Owasso, Okla., district follows the death of a nonbinary student last month.
4 min read
A man in a black baseball cap stands in front of a green building holding a lit candle and a sign that says: "You are seen. You are loved. #nexbenedict
Kody Macaulay holds a sign on Feb. 24, 2024, during a candlelight service in Oklahoma City for Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teenager who died one day after a fight in a high school bathroom.
Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via AP