Thread by @JYSexton

Studying the history of white supremacy, the conspiracy theories always repeat.

Whether it’s the 17th century overthrow of Maryland’s government, the stirrings of America’s revolution, the Red Scare, or the Capitol Coup, it’s always foreigners and traitors using people of color.

There’s something inherent in the pursuit of white supremacy, a projection of malicious intent that legitimizes violence, enslavement, and exploitation, a constant paranoia that the sins of that exploitation will themselves be exploited.

And that fear allows anything.

As I’m making my way through history it’s gotten so predictable how those white supremacist paranoias will take shape, how aggressive actions will be legitimized through the same foreigners/traitors/bipoc lens.

It’s a maddening cycle.

It just repeats. White supremacy wants or needs something, so it invents a conspiracy that frames foreign influence in league with domestic traitors (their opponents, reformers, or critics) that will use bipoc to carry out unthinkable violence should white supremacy not win out.

These trends extend back to the beginnings of modern civilization, but our current form begins with the solidification of nation states, which immediately birthed “deep state” conspiracies which legitimized persecution, genocides, enslavement, exploitation.

Finding the repeatable history of conspiracy theories in service of white supremacy is at times demoralizing and hopeful.

It’s awful that it keeps working, but it feels like if we can recognize this pattern we might be able to depower it and move beyond it.

There’s nothing really novel about our current climate of white supremacist conspiracy theories, only the new media’s role in spreading them more quickly and the product of tailored, person realities.

It’s the same story, and history tells us it will get worse unless we change.