I speak of one of the most prominent racists of the 19th century, Charles Darwin.
Darwin's follow-up to The Origin of Species, his Descent of Man, is littered with racist and sexist sentiments which are far more unsavory than anything one would find in Dr. Seuss. Here's just one example of dozens that could be cited:
At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked will no doubt be exterminated.Oof. This is very awkward. Darwin's Descent of Man should obviously be burned, his statue at the London Museum of Natural History pulled down and his tomb at Westminster Abbey dug up and his bones thrown into the Thames, but on the other hand, if Darwin is discredited what happens to the chief pillar of contemporary materialistic atheism, Neo-Darwinian evolution?
The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.
How can a good materialist cling fervently to a theory associated with such a wretched bigot as the quiet professor from Down? Indeed, how can his theories be allowed to be propounded in our classrooms and featured on PBS specials? It's past time, is it not, for all good men, women and the other 50 or so genders to get on their Twitter accounts and demand that the name of Darwin be expunged from every nook and cranny of our culture.
It's certainly time to demand that the execrable Darwin Day be abolished. It's unconscionable that we have a day in which we celebrate a racist. It's as bad as having a Nathan Bedford Forrest Day.
So when will the bells toll for Mr. Darwin? When will he be thrust into outer darkness and his books banished from ebay? Or are these just idle questions?
To anyone who thinks the quote above is not enough to establish Mr. Darwin's guilt there are two things to say: First, you must be a racist yourself or else you wouldn't raise such an objection, and second lots more examples of his pernicious views on race and sex can be found on Denise O'Leary's post at Uncommon Descent.
So, let the bonfires begin!
Okay, I'm kidding, at least a little, but on a more sober note it would be good to watch this 9 minute video. The similarities between what's said and shown on the video and what's happening in our country today are uncanny. Watching it brought to mind the words of philosopher George Sanatyana who declared that "Those who do not remember the past are destined to repeat it."
Please watch the whole thing. We need to be reminded of the lessons of history and to take seriously what the people interviewed in the clip are telling us.