“That rhetoric has been resonating ever since in the right wing, repackaged lately in what’s known as ‘replacement theory,’ espoused by conservative media figures like Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. “Back in 2017, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Va., carrying torches and chanting, ‘You will not replace us’ and ‘Jews will not replace us.’ Decent Americans recoiled at the undeniable echo of Nazi Germany,” began the editorial, which was illustrated with a photo of the notorious Charlottesville tiki torch march. In September of 2021, the newspaper’s editorial board wrote about the conspiracy theory. Prior to the shooting, the white 18-year-old reportedly posted a 106-page manifesto citing the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory as motivation. The suspect was identified by the newspaper as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York. “A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live-streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as ‘racially motived violent extremism.’ The gunman wore body armor and military-style clothing during the attack on mostly Black shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market,” the Times Union reported Saturday. Saturday’s mass shooting in New York occurred less than eight months after a local newspaper scolded a Republican congresswoman for pushing the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.
