A Republican Michigan politician has been stripped of his office staff and committee assignments after sharing a social media post about the racist “great replacement” theory about a coordinated effort to diminish the influence of white people through immigration and low birth rates.
The Republican state representative Josh Schriver had his privileges removed by the Michigan house speaker, Joe Tate, but will still be able to vote on legislation.
The decision came a week after Schriver, a first-term lawmaker, uploaded a picture that depicted Black figures covering most of a map of the world, with white figures in small areas of Australia, Canada, northern Europe and the northern US.
The bottom of the graphic read “The great replacement!” The picture was originally posted by Jack Posobiec, a far-right pundit, and reposted on X by Schriver.
In a statement to the Detroit News last week, Schriver said he loved “all of God’s offspring” and believed “everyone’s immense value is rooted in the price Christ paid on the Cross when he died for our sins.
“I’m opposed to racists, race baiters, and victim politics,” Schriver said in the statement.
However, he then went on to repeat elements of the replacement theory. “What I find strange is the agenda to demoralize and reduce the white portion of our population. That’s not inclusive and Christ is inclusive! I’m glad Tucker Carlson and Jack Posobiec are sharing links so I can continue my research on these issues.”
The Great Replacement conspiracy theory has been cited as a motive for perpetrators of mass violence, including the white shooter who carried out the 2022 mass shooting of Black shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket; the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh; the 2019 Poway, California, synagogue massacre; and the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, which targeted Latinos.
After Schriver posted the image, Michigan’s Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer, condemned him and the failure of Republican leaders in not condemning the material.
“It is a failure of leadership for this kind of action to take place unchecked by the leaders of Representative Schriver’s caucus, and the longer there is no action taken, the more responsibility leadership bears,” Whitmer said.
In the decision to revoke Schriver’s privileges, Tate said Michigan’s legislative house would not be allowed to become “a forum for the proliferation of racist, hateful and bigoted speech.”
Tate added that the lawmaker “had a history of promoting debunked theories and dangerous rhetoric that jeopardizes the safety of Michigan residents and contributes to a hostile and uncomfortable environment for others”.
Among the privileges and assignments Schriver will lose include a committee on natural resources, environment, tourism and outdoor recreation, as well as a single staff member and a $132,000 office budget.
But some Republican legislators came to Schriver’s defense. State representative Matt Maddock said Schriver was a “great man without a racist bone in his body” who would emerge stronger from the “woke” leadership’s punishment.
But at least two other local Republicans did move to condemn Schriver. Representative Donni Steele said lawmakers must speak out “against hate whenever it rears its ugly head”, and senator John Damoose said Schriver’s post had nothing to do with conservative or American ideals.
“Such ideas truly have no place in our politics or our culture,” Damoose said. “By now, our nation should know better.”
