Darwin’s incidental human-race references let racists claim his authority.

Evidence

Darwin did not explicitly claim that the White race had been naturally selected to evolve toward perfection. He hardly spent any writing time on humans in The Origin of Species. He had a grander purpose: proving that all living things the world over were struggling, evolving, spreading, and facing extinction or perfection. Darwin did, however, open the door for bigots to use his theory by referring to “civilized” states, the “savage races of man,” and “half-civilized man,” and calling the natives of southern Africa and their descendants “the lowest savages.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 559

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how racist ideas latch onto respectable science — an instance of the policy-first dynamic producing ideological cover.