Hume’s 1753 footnote deemed all non-white peoples naturally inferior to whites

Evidence

I am apt to suspect the negroes and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the Whites … have still something eminent about them… . Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men… . In Jamaica, indeed, they talk of one Negro as a man of parts and learning; but it is likely he is admired for slender accomplishments, like a parrot who speaks a few words plainly. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 247

Categorization

• XREF: This is the canonical Enlightenment-era segregationist text declaring permanent natural hierarchy; connects to later chapters tracing how ‘scientific racism’ citations propagate.
• CANDY: The parrot dismissal of an educated Black man is a piercing, quotable put-down worth retelling in conversation.