Well, context is everything, isn’t it? I enjoyed the book and the movie, and while it isn’t mean and wildly racist, it puts far too nice a face on attitudes that black people are inferior and subordinate. These were the historical attitudes of the sort of people portrayed, but they might be air brushed even then, rather than a bit meaner and a bit more accurate.
I would not expose a young person to this material unless they had a good understanding of the prejudices it glorifies, and some discussion of what the various artists were trying to accomplish. I think that an economic background into the causes and effects of slavery and the old south might be a good angle to approach.
I’d say it is racist, but not in the same way as the Turner Diaries, or something more modern. I suppose that the author may have even been trying to avoid being racist as much as possible, but then it becomes an airbrushing. Once the student understood the context, however, I would not hesitate to expose them to this material. The book is very well written, the film is an all time classic example of the art form, and a clothes and manner film to boot. No film lover should avoid this film, it is magnificant. But yes, unfortunately racist.
Now Birth of a Nation is also definitely racist, meanly so, yet also necessary for a thorough film education. But other than as an example of great film, like Triumph of the Will, it has no other redeeming social importance. I would not show either film to a class of film appreciation. But both would be 100 percent necessary to show to a class of future filmmakers.
One of the great all time novels, Huckleberry Finn, is also racist in many aspects. Twain wrote it as a screed against racsim, but it was so subtle for the audience of his day that it is downright offensive at parts over a century later. But no American claiming a high school diploma should be deprived of its pleasures. It needs an introduction by a teacher sensitive to what Twain was trying to accomplish, how far he succeeded, and where he failed outright.
Is The Merchant of Venice anti-Semetic? You bet. Must a person who is educated be aquainted with it? Equally so. Shakespeare was trying to do the same sort of thing Twain did later, but in my opinion, his message for social change was not as successful, but certainly every bit as pointed. Had Shylock not converted at the end, its offensiveness would have been greatly diminished. But Shakespeare probably did not have that luxury if he wanted it produced.
The quality of mercy is not strained.