Racist?

It may be possible that Conrad is a racist and this can be proven from Conrad’s text. A reason that makes Conrad seem like a racist is the way that he refers to people. The way that he differentiates people is a bit inappropriate. Conrad uses the word black and the “n” word very often. The way he uses these vulgar words, in a way degrades the people he is talking about. One part of the text that really caught my attention was these two lines, “It came in sections during the next three weeks, each section headed by a donkey carrying a white man in new clothes and tan shoes, bowing from that elevation right and left to the impressed pilgrims. A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the don- key; a lot of tents, campstools, tin boxes, white cases, brown bales would be shot down in the court-yard, and the air of mystery would deepen a little over the muddle of the station.” I found these sentences very interesting because the way he mentions white people is completely different from the way he mentions black people. These sentences are like totally opposites; first you have white people who are high and mighty with all of their new stuff on a donkey. Then there are the black people who are quarreling footsore sulky people. This was one part that really makes it seem like Conrad is a racist. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always believed that it was inappropriate for a non-black person to use the “n” word. It was a really offensive word that people used a very long time ago.
On the other hand Conrad could possibly not be a racist at all. The text was written a while ago and it is fiction. Maybe that was how people spoke/wrote about people; also you really have to keep in mind that it is fiction. Conrad doesn’t come out in the open and just bash black people. He is telling a story and that is how his characters are seen. Anyway it is very difficult for me to think Conrad isn’t a racist from the way he writes, the evidence seems to stack up against him.