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great replacement theory
Racial Profiling Betrays What It Means to Be American
The US Constitution does not permit government agents to detain people because of how they look, the language they speak, or the jobs they hold.
Sep 26, 2025
Earlier this month, a member of my staff—a person of color—was aggressively stopped by three Customs and Border Protection officers near Union Station on his commute home from the Capitol. He had done nothing wrong but was targeted because he fit a profile. The questioning ended only when he produced his congressional identification.
This is the daily reality for countless Americans who cannot end such encounters by showing their staff badge: If your skin is darker, your English is accented, or your job low wage, you may be forced to prove your right to exist in public spaces.
In a 6-3 decision in Vásquez Perdomo v. Noem, the US Supreme Court permitted federal agents in Los Angeles to carry out “roving” immigration stops based on factors like appearance, language, workplace, or location. This marks a departure from the 1975 ruling in Brignoni-Ponce, which held that ethnicity could be considered but not be the sole basis for suspicion. By setting aside lower court rulings that regarded the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stops as racial profiling, the court has now paved the way for agents to target individuals even when race or ethnicity is the primary factor driving their suspicion.
The order is not the Supreme Court’s final word, but it signals that the majority may not uphold strict limits on immigration stops. For millions, that is chilling. Back home in Illinois, community leaders are already sounding the alarm on residents skipping public celebrations like Mexican Independence Day and even the workday, rather than risk being stopped and potentially detained, even if they have legal status or are American citizens.
No one’s freedom should hinge on the color of their skin, the cadence of their speech, the work they do, or the number of letters in their name.
Such consequences are not theoretical. The Trump administration has pushed for 3,000 arrests per day, redirected agents from criminal work into sweeping dragnets, and ramped up employer audits often used to stage raids. Under such pressure, mistakes and abuses multiply. Law enforcement is moving quickly to meet Trump’s demands, and profiling the public to do it, due process and civil liberties be damned.
In Georgia, a South Korean engineer with a valid visa was swept up in a factory raid and coerced into “voluntary” departure. In Florida, a US citizen was jailed on an ICE detainer despite clear proof of his citizenship. These are not isolated errors but evidence of how quotas and racial shortcuts endanger all of us.
The US Constitution does not permit government agents to detain people because of how they look, the language they speak, or the jobs they hold. That safeguard, rooted in centuries of American law, is not a privilege reserved for the well-connected, but a constitutional right held by us all. When officers detain first and question later, they invert the burden of proof, forcing individuals to justify their own freedom. That is not order; it is the slow normalization of a society where those who don’t match preconceived notions of what it means to look like an American must constantly prove they belong.
The fiercest advocates for mass immigration raids often draw on the Great Replacement Theory, an antisemitic and racist belief that nonwhite immigrants are being brought into the country, with the help of the Jewish community, to “replace” white Americans and shift political power. Once confined to the fringes of the far-right, this lie has caught fire in recent years, even inspiring national tragedies such as the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were murdered for the imagined crime of aiding “replacement.” Variations of this conspiracy theory have since been invoked by US President Donald Trump and echoed by members of his administration to justify mass, militarized immigration raids amid a new wave of xenophobia.
Beyond its hateful consequences, the Great Replacement Theory denies a fundamental truth: We are not a nation defined by race or ancestry, nor by narrow ideas of what an American looks like. If we were, a child born in India who spent time living in public housing and on food stamps would not go on to serve in the halls of Congress. But that story of the American Dream, which is not unique to me, illustrates the beauty of this country and the promise of that dream. It was President Ronald Reagan who reminded us in his last speech as president that Americans are defined by principles, not bloodlines: “Anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.”
We must insist that liberty and equality are inseparable: No one’s freedom should hinge on the color of their skin, the cadence of their speech, the work they do, or the number of letters in their name. We must reject policies that turn people into targets—whether through arrest quotas, sweeping dragnets, or the politics of fear. And we must remember that our freedoms are never self-executing; they endure only so long as we defend them, together.
The Fourth Amendment’s promise is simple: Power must knock, explain itself, and answer to law. That promise belongs not only to the fortunate few but to every worker heading to a factory, every parent walking a child to school, every neighbor waiting at a bus stop. It belongs to those who may never carry congressional identification, yet who carry something far greater: the unshakable right to live with dignity and security in the country they call home—a country bound by our Constitution.
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The Killing of Charlie Kirk: Violent Speech and a Violent End
Charlie Kirk expanded hatred, marketed the vile speech of old racisms in new wineskins, and further jeopardized the lives and security of others.
Sep 11, 2025
There are so many words and cliches condemning the killing of Charles James Kirk and none of the refrains are unique. "We need to dial back our discourse," "We need to be tolerant of different opinions," and "There is no room in American politics for political violence."
Are people blind to the realities that have been swirling all around us? The language has been violent. The discord has been great. There has been a consistent invitation to dine at the table of heated racist discussion posing as legitimate political speech. The killing of Charlie Kirk fits within this arena of speech that is racist and hate-filled but is designed to pose as rational and logical political speech.
In his rhetoric and so-called debate style this 31-year-old evangelical firebrand of the right has stated that Black pilots were incompetent, gays should be stoned, ironically he was opposed to gun control, abortion, LGBTQ rights, criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Martin Luther King Jr., promoted Christian nationalism, advanced Covid-19 misinformation, made false claims of electoral fraud in 2020, and is a proponent of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. This Chicago-born suburbanite brought all of the racial innuendo to political speech and rhetorically violated the safety and security of Blacks, people of-color, the LGBTQIA community, perverted the history of race and racism in America, attempted to legitimize the nation as a white bastion of civilization and Christianity, and in general perfected the use of racial and hateful language and molded it into a form of acceptable and legitimate political debate and viewpoint.
But the legitimate debate aspect was far from legitimate historical benign speech, nor was it nonviolent in character. In fact, it touched all of the refrains of the vile language of the past that resulted far too many times in lynchings and other forms of racial violence and upheaval.
Trump talked about lowering the temperature of the political language that is used, but in the next breath criticized "the radical left" for castigating the hate language of Kirk.
Don't get me wrong, I am sorry for the death and killing of Charlie Kirk. I have stood over many coffins of people I did not agree with and said words of comfort to the families during my 40-plus years of ministry. In doing so I have looked at a person's life to find something to say about their character, worthiness, and contributions they have made in their lifetime. Sometimes the task is easier than at other times.
As I look at the life of Kirk, he was a husband, a father, and what else I do not know. He had friends, I am sure. He played a significant role in his connection with community that was personal and also collective. But the problem I would have in affirming this life at an end-of-life ceremony is that he evidently did not care in his living about the security and comfort of others. He did not show empathy. Whether he believed what he espoused, or it was simply a marketing ploy for influence and money I don't know, and no one will ever know for sure. But Charlie Kirk expanded hatred, marketed the vile speech of old racisms in new wineskins, and further jeopardized the lives and security of others.
The right wing is working hard to make a political martyr of him. US President Donald Trump has ordered flags to be flown at half-mast ahead of any remembrance of 9-11. Trump talked about lowering the temperature of the political language that is used, but in the next breath criticized "the radical left" for castigating the hate language of Kirk. If we are going to be truthful in this moment, the hate that Kirk put out came back on him, and the violent political language that continues to fly in this country will continue to manifest itself in ways where we will continually be praying for victims and their families.
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5 Years After El Paso Shooting, Calls for Fighting Gun Violence and Racism
"When politicians use 'great replacement' conspiracies and xenophobia to stoke fear and divide us, real people pay the price in blood," said Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro.
Aug 04, 2024
Saturday marked five years since a self-described white nationalist killed 23 people and injured 22 others with an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and the anniversary sparked fresh calls for efforts to combat gun violence and racism.
"Five years after a man armed with hate and a gun drove into our community and stole the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors, we still feel the pain of their absence," said Myndi Luevanos, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action in El Paso, in a statement. "Since the shooting, our leaders have refused to meet the moment, failing to enact common-sense gun safety measures that could save lives and address the disproportionate rate of gun violence faced by the Latinx community in Texas."
"Half a decade later, we cannot let the failures of the past become the norm," Luevanos continued. "Now more than ever, we must honor the victims and their families with action and protect Latinx Texans for generations to come from gun violence."
The group Brady said on social media that "easy access to guns, especially assault rifles, makes hate lethal. We must #HonorWithAction and #DisarmHate."
The shooter, Patrick Wood Crusius, is serving 90 consecutive life sentences after being convicted of federal hate crimes and in September agreed to "pay restitution in the amount of $5,557,005.55" to victims' families. Both Republican District Attorney Bill Hicks and his Democratic opponent for this November's election, James Montoya, hope to have him tried in front of a jury on state charges by next year. In the Texas case, he could face the death penalty.
Crusius, who traveled nearly 600 miles across the state to the border city where he shot dozens of people, wrote in a racist manifesto posted online before the attack that he aimed to address the "Hispanic invasion of Texas." He is one of multiple mass shooters who have cited the "great replacement" theory that white people will be replaced by people of color.
"Hate speech isn't just words—it has real, devastating consequences," UnidosUS stressed on social media. "The anniversary of El Paso reminds us of this. Words have power—they can heal or harm. We decide to use our voice to create a world where no one lives in fear."
The 2019 massacre was "the deadliest attack on the Latinx community in America," noted Mireya Rodriguez, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in Texas. "Racism emboldens violence and set against Texas' weak gun laws, you get a recipe for the very tragedy that shattered El Paso."
"Our leaders have a responsibility to reject racist and anti-immigration rhetoric, yet it's no secret that some Texas politicians have chosen to embrace, rather than condemn that hatred," the activist added. "We won't stand for that. We will honor the lives stolen through our advocacy to end gun violence and combat white supremacy in all forms."
As Common Dreams reported Friday, a new analysis from eight groups "exposes the normalization of xenophobic 'great replacement' and 'invasion' conspiracies within the 118th Congress, documenting their historical roots and widespread promotion by members of Congress." It features examples from two Texas Republicans: Congressmen Lance Gooden and Jodey Arrington.
Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said on social media Saturday that "we can honor the lives lost and the families affected by denouncing the awful rhetoric that incited this act of hate."
"When politicians use 'great replacement' conspiracies and xenophobia to stoke fear and divide us, real people pay the price in blood," Castro added. "As we remember the victims in El Paso, we have to call out those who use vile rhetoric to lead. There's no place for hate in this country."
Sharing the names of the El Paso victims of social media, March for Our Lives—launched after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—said, "Let's be clear: This was a racist, anti-immigrant act of terror."
"The shooter's 'great replacement theory' language is deadly, fueled by our leaders who demonize immigrants and people of color," the group asserted. "Their words have real, fatal consequences."
March for Our Lives last month gave its first-ever political endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Friday secured enough delegates for Democratic nomination to face former President Donald Trump. The Republican—who in July survived an assassination attempt by a shooter at a Pennsylvania campaign event—was in Georgia on Saturday, spewing anti-migrant rhetoric to a rally crowd.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden released a lengthy statement and Harris said that "five years ago today, 23 people were killed and 22 others were injured during a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas that was carried out with a weapon of war. It was an act of hate that targeted Latinos."
"Doug and I join the community in remembering those who lost their lives in this senseless act fueled by white supremacy, and we are thinking of those who were injured," she continued, referring to her husband. "As we honor the lives that were taken and support the survivors, we recommit ourselves to achieving a future where every person can live free from gun violence, fear, and hate."
Harris is spending the weekend vetting potential vice presidential candidates, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
Kelly's wife is Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who resigned after she survived a 2011 assassination attempt outside a grocery store in Arizona. She now leads a gun violence prevention group called GIFFORDS.
The El Paso tragedy "happened because someone who was fueled by hate was able to easily access a gun," she said in a statement. "Americans deserve better. The Latino community deserves better. People should be able to walk into a Walmart without the fear of being shot."
Giffords also pointed out that five years ago, "hours after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Dayton, Ohio experienced a parallel tragedy outside a bar, when a Saturday night out turned into horror and loss."
"This weekend, I'm thinking of those lost that night and the survivors whose lives were irrevocably changed," she said. "GIFFORDS stands with the Dayton community and we will never give up in our fight to stop gun violence."
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