#SouthAfrica #Trump #WhiteGenocide
"President Donald Trump says there is a genocide of white people taking place in South Africa, meaning that Black South Africans are deliberately attempting to kill white farmers because of their race.
Trump and his spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, have said violence targeting white farmers in South Africa justifies admitting about 60 white Afrikaner farmers to the U.S. as refugees in May 2025.
This comes after Trump, in January, suspended admitting people, most of whom are not white, from other countries through the United Statesā refugee program. The U.S. had previously given refugee status ā a legal right to remain and work in the country ā to tens of thousands of people each year who were fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries.
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Trumpās white genocide claims, which echoed assertions he made during his first term, were quickly debunked by independent fact-checkers.
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Fact-checkers pointed out that while crime rates in South Africa are high in general, there is no evidence of white genocide there. The crosses in the video Trump showed did not mark mass graves of white farmers. They were part of a 2020 tribute to two white farmers murdered by armed men who stormed their house that year.
As someone who has studied genocide and far-right extremists for years, I think it is necessary to understand what white genocide is and how it developed into a central issue in U.S. immigration debates starting in Trumpās first term.
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As I detail in my 2021 book *It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US* white genocide is a far-right extremist conspiracy theory claiming that allegedly bad people, often Jews, are carrying out a dangerous plot to destroy the white race. While this idea circulates worldwide, it has distinctly American roots.
This conspiracy dates back to the 1800s and the rise of nativism, a xenophobic belief held by some white Protestant Americans that certain immigrants, especially German and Irish Catholics, were dangerous and threatened to disrupt American traditions, culture and economic security.
Nativist fears have continued to influence U.S. politics and culture.
The American lawyer Madison Grant, for example, made nativist arguments in his 1916 book *The Passing of the Great Race,* which warned of immigrantsā threat to Americans and 'race suicide.' Adolf Hitler once called Grantās book his bible.
Nativism has also influenced white power extremists, who believe in white superiority and dominance. They began using the specific term 'white genocide' after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, which they perceived as eroding white peopleās power.
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There are also instances of such white power extremist views leading to violent acts. One example is the mass shooting of 11 Jewish people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Another is the El Paso Walmart shooting that resulted in 23 murdered Latino victims in 2019.
Right-wing populists such as Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk have helped fuel replacement theories by contending that Democrats are trying to replace white voters with nonwhite immigrants."
https://theconversation.com/trumps-white-genocide-claims-about-south-africa-have-deep-roots-in-american-history-257510
