Being one of my favorites directors I'll throw my worthless two cents in.
1. Off the top of my head I can't remember how many Chinese parts were played by white folks. I'm not sure I'd call this racism but it's just a part of the times. I doubt Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Lon Chaney or various other actors were racist when they played Chinese parts. I doubt the directors, writers or producers were being racist when they hired the likes of a Chaney to play a Chinese guy.
I think it boils down to the fact that (shock) studios want to make money and off the top of my head I can't think of a Chinese actor in 1918 that would have made money for the (then) bank. Barthelmess at the time was a popular, up and coming actor so he was the right choice out of all the actors in the stock company, which is where Griffith got his actors.
2. "The Yellow Man" is just being faithful to the characters name in the original story. It's funny but in today's world a director/screenwriter would be killed by fans for changing the smallest thing from a book so the fact that they were being faithful to the story leads to criticism is rather amusing.
3. The blackface issue is just another product of its time. I've seen over 100 Griffith films and can't remember a one that didn't feature someone in blackface if there was a black person in the role. It's rather strange that black producers started making race films so that black movie goers could get away from stereotypes yet the "blackface" issue still haunted those films. I'm not sure what got producer's a hard on over make up but even the race films would use "whiteface", meaning putting make up on black actors to make them look lighter in color.
4. The product of its time doesn't sit well today but, as you said, the story had a heart behind it, which is why I think this is a lot better film for people to chew on. I'd think most people would be more offended by comedy that is making fun of a negative stereotype, which is something these films are ate up with. I'm one of about twenty people that are trying to make a full list of various race issues in early films and we honestly haven't come up with many that would be politically correct today. Meaning, no racial jokes, no stereotypes or anything to that nature. Something like this film, as we rate it, is getting a break because of its heart. Others are being lumped together but even this film is a lot kinder than most.
The weird thing that we've all noticed is comparing these films to those being made in the 1950s by the likes of John Wayne and those being made today. It seems ever so often a group is an open target of negative jokes. Sad but true. I'm not sure who sets these rules or who gives the green light on who you can make fun of or make savages out of. For a while it was Asians and blacks, then it was Indians, then it was whites with blaxploitation. Now it seems gay folks, fat people or Muslims are allowed to be made fun of.
From 1910-1940 it was okay for whites to play Chinese but not today.
From 1910-1990 it was okay for Indians to be drunk, raping savages but not today.
Currently it's okay to make fun of weight issues, gay people or various other groups. I really hope I'm alive fifty years from now so that I can see how these types of films are looked at. I'm curious to know if people will still laugh at something like I KNOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY or if it will make them sick to their stomachs. I wonder if people will laugh at TRUE LIES over certain groups being shown as terrorists. I wonder if people will laugh at THE RINGER or THERE'S SOMETHING LIKE MARY, which makes fun of mentally handicapped people. Will these films still be funny or will they be banned from screenings like many of the films from the pre-1950s era?
I'm guessing only time will tell but it's probably a good bet to worry about the 2007 films in 2007 and not worry about things that were okay in 1910 but not today.
I'm not sure what films are being watched by others working on this little project but I watch quite a bit of movies each and every year and I think I've found two this year that we'd rank as "safe". Considering how many movies I watch, that number is pretty damn shocking. I know the other members are watching just as much as I am but I doubt their numbers will be much different than mine. Most will probably think this project is worthless but I'm really hoping we can find out who makes the rules of what's right and wrong when it comes to these negative images.