I just don’t get the deal about this movie. The crows in Dumbo and especially the “What Makes the Red Man Red?” song in Peter Pan are at least as racist as anything in it, yet those movies are considered beloved classics that get all the works in uncensored re-releases and are still shown to children to this day as if there is nothing wrong with them. Yet Disney tries to act like this film never existed… while at the same time one of their most popular and beloved theme park attractions built decades afterward is a shrine to it? Talk about mixed signals!

Seriously, I get they’re afraid of the controversy and I get not wanting it to be shown to young children removed from context, but that doesn’t excuse not releasing it at all. Make it a limited release, stick a warning label on it, market it to adults, film a disclaimer intro with Leonard Maltin or better yet a prominent African-American, include a documentary examining the film’s historical context. If they can find a way to put out those WW2 propaganda shorts (which are WAY more racist) to collectors for the sake of historical preservation, which was an admirable thing to do, there is no excuse to not do the same thing with this film. If nothing else, it is insulting to the memory of James Baskett to bury the first ever Academy Award winning performance by a black man. It has enormous historical significance for that reason alone.