Charles Darwin was himself a racist, referring to native Africans and
Australians, for example, as savages.
Source:
Humber, Paul G. 1987. The ascent of racism. Impact 164,
http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=268 Weston-Broome, Sharon. 2001. Louisiana House Concurrent Resolution
no. 74: Civil Rights: Provides relative to racism and education about
racism. HLS 01-2652 ORIGINAL.
Response:
Virtually all Englishmen in Darwin's time viewed blacks as culturally
and intellectually inferior to Europeans. Some men of that time (such
as Louis Agassiz, a staunch creationist) went so far as to say they
were a different species. Charles Darwin was a product of his times
and no doubt viewed non-Europeans as inferior in ways, but he was far
more liberal than most: He vehemently opposed slavery (Darwin 1913,
especially chap. 21), and he contributed to missionary work to better
the condition of the native Tierra del Fuegans. He treated people of
all races with compassion.
The mention of "favoured races" in the
subtitle of Origin of
Species merely refers to variations within species which survive to
leave more offspring. It does not imply racism.
The views of Darwin, or of any person, are irrelevant to the fact of
evolution. Evolution is based on evidence, not on people's opinions.
