Aslan, the Racist Lion

I've always sort of assumed that the Narnia Chronicles - while fabulous and fun to read - are a bit on the racist end of literature. I'm open to people disagreeing - which is part why I post this - because I don't think I've ever "talked this one out", except with a rather disagreeable young man who thought that Lewis was probably right to "stick it" to the darkies because Islam (particularly) is something to fear, abhor - and perhaps even assail. This has not become a fruitful relationship.

Throughout the Narnia stories a race of avowed enemies (the only comparable/consistent nemesis would be the Witch, Lewis' devil) are the Calormemes of Calormen, a region of desert people who wear turbans, baggy trousers and pointy shoes. They arrange marriages, put the symbol of the crescent on their money, fight with scimitars and - in The Last Battle - are even referred to as "darkies". Friends, with a little poco-muscle there are oodles of dissertations buried here.

I think this is pretty clear, but I'm not sure it takes away from my love of the stories themselves, though I wouldn't want my children to read The Horse and His Boy. After all, I love and revere writers, thinkers and public figures who had far from enlightened racial perspectives - among them Abraham Kuyper. But should we be more attentive how we read - what are obviously very broken and sinful racial constructs - through our history and literature?