Gradated Racism. Moving Between “Ends in Themselves” and “Mere Means”

I reveal a pervasive though often unobtrusive form of racism which merits its own discussion. Gradated racism, as I call it, can co-exist with sophisticated moral views. To elucidate this, I make use of Kant’s race and moral theories, considered together and as equally important. I borrow his dichotomy of “end in itself” and “mere means” and re-conceptualize it. I argue that this helps us to analyze the normative nature of gradated racism properly. I then argue for reading the terms of the dichotomy as correlational with one another and as two termini of an “open interval” continuum. Those who are racialized against in this way, whom I call, taking inspiration from Charles Mills but refining his term, “sub-persons”, are treated along that continuum: they are useful to the “superior” race in specific ways and, though never respected unconditionally, are not seen as non-persons either.