Tönnies stupidly amplified the ancient stereotype of Africans „producing children“ like rabbits but still living in tribal and underdeveloped conditions. That’s the prejudice he served.
He is a powerful, wealthy and secure man speaking disrespectful of people of a whole continent, serving stereotypes that stick like glue on coloured people since ages.
Yes, his statements were racist. Still, I wouldn’t call him a racist per se. But he remarkably showed, though highlighting a general antiracist position, how quickly many people refer to racist stereotypes as soon as they get the chance to pin down, in this case, the Western economic supremacy over weaker and „underdeveloped“ people.