I think you may be missing another element of the "subtle racism" going on.
Another reason for the novel's initial popularity may have inadvertently been subtle racism.
The issue has become mired in discussions of civil rights and accusations of subtle racism.
Even the subtle racism of the educated Southern white had its rules and restrictions; it was not inherently evil.
Is all the above to be dismissed as Japan-bashing, subtle racism or insensitivity to cultural differences?
Thus subtle racism and a rational urge to self-preservation are bound up together.
He seemed to suspect that subtle racism had kept black soldiers off that list.
And isn't that reference "places whose names they can t pronounce" a lovely little piece of subtle racism?
You captured the subtle racism that so many Americans ignore when they say "things are better than they were."
The study used the Duckitt scale of subtle racism to measure racist views.