The so-called Great Replacement Theory which reportedly motivated the suspect in the Buffalo mass shooting is neither “great," nor a theory in the scientific sense of the word.

It’s more of a garbage plate of hate. Instead of cheeseburgers and macaroni salad, it includes panic over an influx of non-white immigration; worn anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish control; and the false belief by some in the Republican Party that most new immigrants will vote Democrat.  (According to Pew, there are more new immigrants who are a combination of Republican and unaffiliated voters than those who are Democrats).

The final ingredient is racism. Clearly, the suspect consumed his fill if he was motivated to travel hundreds of miles to a neighborhood in Buffalo where Black people live in one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. — and where they fight child poverty, lead poisoning, food deserts and diabetes on a daily basis — and shoot them.

That the horror that claimed these lives was allowed to thrive in New York raises so many questions. One is, will our leaders have the political will to do something to dismantle the deadly intersection of AR-15s and radicalization that has already killed so many? 

It’s a mixture that Brooklyn Democrat Zellnor Myrie called “a highly combustible combination.” 

The state senator also told Capital Tonight that there is a lot of blame to go around for the mass killing in Buffalo. 

“I think that any leader who referenced these types of theories, who have used this for their own political gain, shares in the blame for what happened on Saturday,” Myrie said. 

Polling shows this theory has gained quite a foothold.

An Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released last week reports that about one in three Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.

“It’s not a new theory. It’s just a different name for white fragility; for people being afraid of what doesn’t look like them,” Sen. Myrie told Capital Tonight.

One reason this narrative has thrived is that it’s found a moist spot of hot air in which to grow. According to Adweek, the second most watched cable show in the first quarter of 2022 was Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show which averaged 3.62 million viewers a night.

A study of five years' worth of Carlson's show by The New York Times found 400 instances where he talked about Democratic politicians and others seeking to force demographic change through immigration.

And now more, younger people will have access to those weapons.

This past Wednesday, a U.S. appeals court ruled that a California ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons to adults younger than 21 was unconstitutional. One of the judges in the case wrote, “America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army. Today we reaffirm that our Constitution still protects the right that enabled their sacrifice: the right of young adults to keep and bear arms.”

When asked how he might discuss racism and gun violence with children he may have in the future, Myrie was optimistic.

“We’re going to tell them about the pain of this moment. We’re going to tell them about the addiction to violence that we have seen in this country. But I believe deep down that we can eradicate gun violence in my lifetime,” Myrie said. “People say that that’s crazy. People say that that’s a moon shot, but I don’t believe that.”