The issues of Melville's Benito Cereno in the 21st century

Herman Melville's short novel/story/tale Benito Cereno (1855), from late in his writing life (4 years post Moby-Dick) makes Melville devotees queasy. Should it? There are a # of ways to read this tale, it's hard to say which is the "right" way or even what that means. In short - and I haven't finished re-reading the tale yet so there may be additional twists and elements - it's a story of an American sea captain, Amaso Delano, who comes upon a near-stranded ship off the cost of Chile, in 1799 (I think this may be based on real events and characters, however loosely) and approaches the boat to offer help. There he finds what appears to him to be a boat in severe distress, w/ the eponymous captain tended closely by several black (negro, in the parlance of the tale) attendants. Cereno tells Delano that they lost most of the Spanish crew to illness and suffered problems at sea while trying to make port. The black men (and women) aboard are slave cargo, but because most of the crew was lost the blacks have been impressed into service. Many aspects of this story puzzle Delano, and he suspects that perhaps he's being lured into a trap - that the crew of Cereno's ship will attack his when he lets down his guard. Now - spoiler here sort of but any contemporary reader I think will immediately pick up what Delano does not - the blacks have evidently revolted and seized control of the ship, and they watch Cereno and the other Spaniards closely to ensure that they give nothing away. The trouble for contemporary readers comes from the many racists remarks and observations: for example, Delano is amazed at the competence of the blacks, whom he believes to be an inferior race, and he's impressed by what he seems to believe is a childish, fawning loyalty to their beleaguered captain, for which he condescendingly admires the blacks. How to take this? On one level, Delano is merely accepting the received ideas of his time - and the joke is on him. His very inability to imagine that the blacks could act in their own interests, could stage an uprising, could successfully navigate a ship and retain control over the Spanish captain - all are Delano's (and Cereno's) own undoing. By underestimating the capacities of the slaves aboard, they have lost control of their world. On another level, however, and more distressing - Melville may hold these racist views himself (although the Melville of M-D does not appear to be racist) - he never explicitly puts the racist thoughts regarding white supremacy into Delano's consciousness, they're always stated as facts. the conclusion of the tale, which involves I think excerpts from a sea log, should further clarify how to read Benito Cereno in the 21st century.