{"id":68274,"date":"2026-01-08T09:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=68274"},"modified":"2026-02-09T16:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:54:11","slug":"ibram-x-kendi","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/event\/ibram-x-kendi\/","title":{"rendered":"Ibram X. Kendi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ibram X. Kendi, the National Book Award-winning historian of\u00a0Stamped from the Beginning<\/em>\u00a0charts how \u201cgreat replacement theory\u201d has moved from the margins to become the most dominant political theory of our time \u2014 and what we can do to safeguard democracy from this insidious threat.<\/p>\n

What is great replacement theory? Variations on the theory have existed for centuries, but it was given this name by a French novelist in 2011 who believed Black and Brown immigrants were \u201cinvading\u201d Europe, brought by shadowy elites to \u201creplace\u201d Europe\u2019s White population. From there, politicians and theorists \u2014 whether in the United States or the United Kingdom, Germany or Chile, Hungary or Australia \u2014 repackaged the conspiracy as a story of \u201cglobalists\u201d welcoming \u201cmigrant criminals\u201d and diversity initiatives to take away the jobs, cultures, electoral power, and the very lives of White people. Over time, great replacement theory has expanded the threat to include citizens, men, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, and ethnic majorities in countries as distinct as Russia, El Salvador, Brazil, Italy, and India. All are targeted with the message that they are under an existential attack that only a strongman can prevent.<\/p>\n

Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia, but heard around the world: \u201cYou will not replace us!\u201d Recall the string of mass shooters around the world\u2014in Oslo and Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh\u2014who claimed their crimes were a defense against \u201cWhite genocide.\u201d Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface of this ascendant idea: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have been expressing some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change and restoring national greatness.<\/p>\n

In our fast-shifting political landscape, most people are unfamiliar with this theory\u2019s origins and its spread, which isn\u2019t a coincidence. In\u00a0Chain of Ideas<\/em>, international bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi uses exacting and clear prose to uncover the roots of great replacement theory and its various mutations around the world. It is an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age \u2014 and how we can free ourselves from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ibram X. Kendi, the National Book Award-winning historian of\u00a0Stamped from the Beginning<\/em>\u00a0charts how \u201cgreat replacement theory\u201d has moved from the margins to become the most dominant political theory of our time \u2014 and what we can do to safeguard democracy from this insidious threat.<\/p>\n

What is great replacement theory? Variations on the theory have existed for centuries, but it was given this name by a French novelist in 2011 who believed Black and Brown immigrants were \u201cinvading\u201d Europe, brought by shadowy elites to \u201creplace\u201d Europe\u2019s White population. From there, politicians and theorists \u2014 whether in the United States or the United Kingdom, Germany or Chile, Hungary or Australia \u2014 repackaged the conspiracy as a story of \u201cglobalists\u201d welcoming \u201cmigrant criminals\u201d and diversity initiatives to take away the jobs, cultures, electoral power, and the very lives of White people. Over time, great replacement theory has expanded the threat to include citizens, men, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, and ethnic majorities in countries as distinct as Russia, El Salvador, Brazil, Italy, and India. All are targeted with the message that they are under an existential attack that only a strongman can prevent.<\/p>\n

Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia, but heard around the world: \u201cYou will not replace us!\u201d Recall the string of mass shooters around the world\u2014in Oslo and Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh\u2014who claimed their crimes were a defense against \u201cWhite genocide.\u201d Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface of this ascendant idea: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have been expressing some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change and restoring national greatness.<\/p>\n

In our fast-shifting political landscape, most people are unfamiliar with this theory\u2019s origins and its spread, which isn\u2019t a coincidence. In\u00a0Chain of Ideas<\/em>, international bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi uses exacting and clear prose to uncover the roots of great replacement theory and its various mutations around the world. It is an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age \u2014 and how we can free ourselves from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":68275,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[55],"class_list":["post-68274","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tribe_events_cat-civics","cat_civics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/68274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/68274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68274"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=68274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}