I'll just come right out and say it, the controversy surrounding this classic piece of American literature is racism. But when making assumptions like this, one must keep in mind the era that these stories were written and published, the experiences of the author, and the message the book is may be trying to spread.
First, Harris wrote the Uncle Remus stories in the early twentieth century, during the apex of segregation and slavery in the South. The story is told and narrated in the accurate African-American Southern dialect of the time, and the "racial slurs" used in the story did not become "slurs" until we socialized them as such.
Second, Harris, although White, was extremely interested in African-American folklore and story-telling. He worked on a plantation and had the opportunity to socialize, listen, and learn from the African-American slaves that also worked there.
Third, the themes represented within the community of animals have been viewed as similar to that of the early American plantation. I do not feel that the message was meant to be racist when Harris created the Uncle Remus characters, but rather a refection of what was going on in the South at the time.
My dad read this book to me when I was very little and I did not realize that it had any sort of "negative" racial message at all, in fact I enjoyed hearing my dad read with the southern accent, it was engaging and different. It wasn't until I got a bit older (seventh grade maybe) and I found the book on the bookshelf, remembering my fondness of it, that I opened it up and was appalled by the racial slurs and undertones. I couldn't believe that this had been among my favorites to hear as a child. This is interesting to think about: as we develop the ability to decide "what is racist" for ourselves, we also develop the ability to decide "whether we agree with it."
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