Yes, both the novel and film accurately represent the racial divide in America at the time.
Not looking to turn this into a racial debate. But I don't agree with you in that it "accurately represents the racial divide in
AMERICA."
It represented the racial divide within the world of the mafia and their dislike for the black people. The old world mobsters looked down on the black people and did not "openly" do business with the black people. But behind closed doors the mob used the black people to make money for them with their harlem gambling and bookmaking operations. They looked down on them as being an inferior race of people.
Yes there was a racial divide in America, no doubt. But back then many black people did work as servants and maids. It wasn't an uncommon thing. In that I think that once again it was FFC's fine attention to detail more than his intent on representing the racial divide in America.
But what was said in
some scenes in the Godfather did not neccesarily represent the feelings of Italians or Americans in general as much as it represented the Mafia and how they felt about the "dark people, the colored."
