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ADL Calls on Rep. Perry to Disavow White Supremacist “Great Replacement Theory”

  • April 20, 2021

During last week’s House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Central American migration to the United States, PA Rep. Scott Perry claimed that immigrants were “replacing national-born Americans, native-born Americans to permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation.”

The idea that “Americans” are being “replaced” by immigrants is wrong on many counts. For one, it completely ignores the incontrovertible fact that our country is a nation of immigrants, and that every American not directly descended from indigenous peoples traces their ancestry to other lands. Immigration should be celebrated, not vilified.

More disturbing and dangerous, however, is that Rep. Perry’s comments promote the “Great Replacement Theory,” the idea that people of color are “replacing” white Americans. The Great Replacement Theory is a component of the white supremacist belief that they are the victims of a “white genocide” masterminded by Jews and carried out by people of color.

The Great Replacement Theory is deadly. It was reflected in the infamous chant of “Jews will not replace us” at the 2017 white supremacist Unite the Right event Charlottesville, which led to the murder of Heather Heyer. It inspired the Tree of Life synagogue shooter, who claimed in his final social media post before his heinous crime that Jews “like to bring in invaders to kill our people.” It catalyzed the mass murder of 23 Latinos in El Paso, with the shooter decrying “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and claiming to defend against “cultural and ethnic replacement.”

The Great Replacement Theory is hate, plain and simple. There is no place for hate in American society, and especially not on the floor of the People’s House, which just a few short months ago was under attack by Americans driven by a different, though similarly dangerous, conspiracy theory.

Rep. Perry must immediately apologize, retract his remarks and disavow the Great Replacement Theory. If he does not, he should be stripped of his committee assignments and formally censured.