OPINION: Racial shooting reveals our duty to speak up

If the phrase “replacement theory” hasn’t entered your consciousness, it’s time to learn about it.

Replacement theory is the guiding light of a white supremacist movement that believes “normal” Americans (i.e. themselves) are in danger of being replaced by nonwhites. The goal of those who espouse replacement theory beliefs is to negate everyone who threatens them ... even if there have been no threats whatsoever.

These people, mostly white males in their late teens and early 20s, have bought into a skewed worldview that is spreading like wildfire. They have been radicalized by a movement that has led them to hang signs from highway overpasses that proclaim, “Hitler was right.” They are the ones who drive hours from their home to murder Black people who are innocently shopping in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store. They are the ones who randomly attack elderly Asian women on city streets.

According to Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, replacement theory “is the most mass-violence-inspiring idea in white supremacist circles right now.” And that’s why we should not be lulled into thinking that these attacks on random groups of minorities are the actions of so-called lone wolves.

They are many, and they are not going away.

They won’t go away until we decide to counter their rhetoric with the truth – and then shout it from the rooftops, loudly and repeatedly. Because the truth about replacement theory is that it has no basis in reality.

Add up all the Jewish, Asian, Black, Latinx and Muslim people in America, and together we remain a minority in a mostly white nation. The white supremacists’ message, however, is a weapon wielded by fearmongers to foster hatred and prejudice. They are succeeding with young impressionable boys because no one is competing with their message. At least, not loudly enough.

Equally troubling is how the fearmongering being spread by white supremacists has an insidious effect on the rest of us. Their fear has created a corresponding fear in me, my co-religionists and minorities across the nation. Like many other places of worship, my synagogue employs armed guards to protect us whenever we meet, even though my congregation has never experienced a direct threat. But the sad truth is that I don’t need to be threatened to know that there are people who would harm me simply because of my heritage and the way I worship.

We know what’s wrong with replacement theory. But we don’t seem to know what to do about it, and the result is that we don’t do much of anything at all.  We tell each other to act, yet we aren’t sure what to do.

The Talmud teaches us that “shtika k’hoda’ah dumia,” which means “silence is assent.” The message of this teaching is clear – we must not remain silent if we disagree. But while speaking out is valuable, it can also be insufficient. And that’s why the Talmud also teaches us the following: “v’lo medrash hu hekar ayleh ha’ma’aseh.” It means: “It is not what one says; rather what one does.”

What can we do? We can speak out; loudly, forcefully and repeatedly in tangible ways. If you are a member of a minority, speak out on behalf of other minorities as well as your own. Write letters to the editor, and to our elected officials. Post your opinions on various social media platforms. Write blog posts.

You can also:

• Write letters of solidarity to the churches, synagogues and mosques that are attacked.

• Send a letter of support to the Tops grocery store in Buffalo where tragic shooting took place. The address is 1275 Jefferson Ave, Buffalo, New York 14208.

• Email a letter to The Buffalo News: buffalonews.com/forms/contact/letter_to_the_editor.

And, most of all, you can get involved. When there’s a community forum or a public meeting or a march, take the time to attend. Sign up to speak and share your message of support for the entire community, regardless of race, religion or creed. Don’t let yourself be silenced because other people are shouting.

Two millennia ago a Jewish sage said, “The day is short and the work is plentiful ... it is not your duty to finish the work (of repairing the world), but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”

It is time for us to get to work.

Rabbi Jennifer Singer is the spiritual leader of Congregation Kol HaNeshama in Sarasota.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: We can’t remain silent while white supremacists threaten our country