Racism

Nowadays racism seems a big mistake. Anthropologists will tell you that there are no races. And even if there are races (in the sense of colours of skin differences certainly exist), they are, like beauty, merely skin deep. So the racists of the past: slave-owners, Nazis, managers of exclusive clubs seem not just cruel criminals, but people of crass stupidity.
But the situation is slightly artificial. We are the only intelligent race to speak about. All other beings are not just inferior, they are in a completely different league. Nobody would claim that apes could even touch us in any intellectual effort. Certainly not Chomsky.
But this has not always been so. We had to share the earth with other human animals, probably inferior, but only just. There were our younger brethren, the Neanderthals, but also from a different race. If our apelike ancestors could have done philosophy, the discussion on racism would have been more interesting. It would not be on whether racism was scientifically wrong, because it was not back then. The Neanderthals were family, but not our equals. The discussion would be how to treat people who were genuinely racially inferior. Members of our family they might have been, albeit a little slow. Should we protect them, because they were a little foolish, or exploit them for the same reason, or put them out of their misery as soon as possible.
I think that that the third alternative was finally chosen.