Ibram X. Kendi Chronicles Impact and Spread of ‘Great Replacement Theory'

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Historian Ibram X. Kendi says that in order to understand the rise of authoritarianism, we need to understand great replacement theory. It’s the racist idea that “powerful elites are enabling peoples of color to steal the lives, livelihoods, cultures and electoral power and freedoms of white people,” Kendi writes in his new book, “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.” We talk to the National Book Award-winning author about how politicians are using great replacement theory to justify authoritarian power and how it has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Guests: Ibram X. Kendi, professor of history, Howard University; author, "Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age," "How to Be an Antiracist," "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Xfinity tech support.
0:01.4	I can't get Jurassic Park back online without... Oh, you just need Xfinity. Plug in your gateway and you're good. And with our five-year price guarantee, your bill is under control too. Xfinity. Imagine that. Watch Jurassic Park with Xfinity. Restriction supply, select plans only. Support for this podcast comes from Bioners. Their annual event is coming up March 26 through the 28th in Berkeley.
0:23.6	Three days of community, solidarity, inspiring speakers, movement building, arts, and music, and more.
0:30.7	For more information, visit bioners.org slash KQED.
0:36.6	From KQED. From KQED.
0:39.4	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
0:42.2	If you've wondered how we entered this modern age of authoritarianism,
0:46.8	historian and bestselling author of How to Be an Anti-Racist, Ibram X. Kendi says
0:51.5	great replacement theory has played no small part. He says the racist idea
0:55.9	that shadowy elites are enabling people of color to replace or steal the livelihoods, cultures,
1:01.5	and electoral power of white people is the ideological origin of our authoritarian age. And in a new
1:07.7	book called Chain of Ideas, Kendi examined the resurgence of the conspiracy theory over the last two and a half decades in hopes of helping the country change course.
1:16.7	Dr. Kendi is professor of history at Howard University and joins me now. Welcome to Forum.
1:22.5	Thank you for having me.
1:23.8	So, Ibram, you say that you didn't find the subject of the book, that the subject found you.
1:30.1	What did you mean by that?
1:32.7	What I meant by that is, you know, my work, I'm known for, of course, writing on the history of racism and even writing a book on how to be anti-racist.
1:45.2	And what I didn't realize is when I published that book, How to Be an Anti-Racist, in 2019,
1:52.7	that there had already emerged this political movement, sort of organized by Great Replacement Theory in which they actually considered
2:03.7	anti-racism to be their major antagonist. Going all the way back to 2011 when a French
2:12.2	novelist by the name of Renaud Camus wrote a book called The Great Replacement, and he even wrote a new book called
2:19.7	You Will Not Replace Us, which was taken after the chant in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.