Brook,
I didn't take your comment as negative, I was just responding to it.
As far as the Searchers, I think it's pretty obvious that you disagree with me
and this reviewer, who doesn't see the film as racist, but does see Ethan as sympathetic. I guess if one doesn't see him as the hero/protaganist or being portrayed in a positive or sympathetic light, then I can see how the film would be viewed as NOT being racist. But I still think it's interesting that at least one reviewer agrees with me about how Ethan is portrayed. I know that when I finished watching the Searchers I felt exactly that a racist had been the movie's hero, and hence my feelings that it was racist.
As far as Song of the South, the heroes/protaganists in that film are little white kids and an old black man and an animated rabbit, none of which are racist as far as I can tell, so I don't see that film as racist.
I don't like Gone with the Wind, and I think it is racist in a different way (because of the portrayal of happy black slaves), but except for Rhett (whom I don't remember being overtly racist in the film), I don't consider the leads particularly heroic, especially not Scarlett who is just a bitch (IMO).
I am willing to cut films a bit of slack for being products of their time, but that doesn't stop me from thinking that films like Birth of a Nation and The Searchers are racist. But I am willing to forgive things like blackface in Holiday Inn, which might be non-pc in today's environment, but wasn't mean-spirited or promoting racism as far as I can tell (I'm making a specific argument about the use of blackface in that film, not blackface in general).