Opinion: It’s time to fight back against white supremacist organizing in Maine

The Great Replacement is not a new idea and for many years it mainly traveled around fringe white nationalist circles. However, as America becomes more diverse, many white Americans increasingly feel uneasy with these shifting demographics. White supremacist media personalities and organizers stoke fear that this trend will result in white people being treated as second class citizens in the same way we have historically treated racial minorities. As the Republican Party turns away minority voters by stoking racial fear and resentment against them, it has doubled down on efforts to disenfranchise Black voters and prevent immigration in order to maintain power. In short, conservatives have rejected multi-racial democracy and will do anything they can to stop it, even if it provokes extrajudicial violence, as we saw on January 6, 2020.

Political opportunism

Republican politicians in Maine have tried to turn this anxiety of shifting demographics into electoral victories. In 2018, libertarian Republican and former state Senator Eric Brakey, who is currently running for an Auburn-area state senate seat, tried to capitalize on then-President Donald Trump’s fear mongering about the so-called migrant caravan by using Great Replacement messaging to galvanize conservative voters. During his unsuccessful run, one Brakey ad blared, “Angus King wants to replace your kids with refugees from Syria!” 

ARTICLE HERE