You think you've read drivel? You haven't read drivel until you've read this

[William Cloud Hicklin]

The point I do concede is the squint eyed Isengarders / Ruffians, who do seem to be evil by definition and for whom appearance seems to be synonymous with character. It's not clear to me whether they are of one race (related to Dunlendings? Corrupted by Saruman? Bred by Saruman? Interbred with orcs?) or various scoundrels who fell on the same path from different starting points and flocked to Saruman when the smell of profit was in the air. But regardless, that is a good point.

That passage, in particular, reflects Churchill's quip about "separated by a common language." Comments about the racial implications of the "squint-eyed-Southerner" at Bree invariably come from Americans who are unfamiliar with British English- because in the UK, a "squint" means that the individual is cross-eyed; it has nothing to do with eyes pressed nearly closed, much less caricatures of Asians. (Also, naturally, it applies to that particular spy, not to Saruman's breeding experiments generally).

And the other point I would add is the remarkable coincidence of pale people being able to put aside their differences and join forces, while the swarthy people of LOTR inevitably end up as the enemy of these forces. Now this I do not see as a reflection of racial influence in Harad, but rather in Dunland, which sort of sticks out amid fair-coloured people around it. Why are the local enemies swarthy too?

Where does Tolkien ever describe the Dunlendings as "swarthy?" At most he says that they are darker-complected than the ultrablonde Rohirrim; to me, anyway, the Dunlendings are calqued upon the Britons/Welsh, still resentful of being driven out of their lands by the Saxons. And the Welsh are "darker" than Nordic types, but certainly not African or even Mediterranean.

Now, one 'race' Tolkien regards as being do definitionally swarthy as to carry it as a name, with Capital Letters, are the Swarthy Men of the First Age. And the people of Ulfang and Uldor do turn out to be rat-bastards; but on the other hand those of Bor are noble and go down fighting against the traitors.