The illustration that Wyllow posted upthread was undeniably racist. Yes, it was from the 1970s, but it shows what the story would have meant to children reading it then, and is a good example of why things sometimes need to be changed.
As has been explained, the tractors were not changed from ‘black’, but from ‘murderous black-looking’, which is very different. The word ‘black’ in that context is not neutral, and the change is not simply to change the colour for the sake of it, but to remove the idea that blackness is equated with murderousness, and the idea that even looking black is negative. Also, can something be ‘black-looking’? Or ‘green-looking’, ‘orange-looking’ or similar? If it’s not quite black, it is grey, so why not say that? As it stands, the implication that the tractors look like black people is strong.
Blackboards were replaced with whiteboards because chalk dust is bad for the lungs, and the lie that this was because the word ‘black’ could not be used in case black people were offended was simply that - a lie. Along with the trope that Baa Baa Black Sheep had been ‘banned’ it was an attempt by reactionaries to ridicule what was then called ‘political correctness’. I dare say that some teachers will have heard the rumours and decided, in good faith, not to use the word at all, thus perpetuating the myth.
Again, as has been discussed, the description of the boy (Algernon?) was not changed from ‘fat’ to enormous’, but to ‘enormous’ from ‘enormously fat’, which shifts the emphasis. Being enormous means being very large - a thin giant can be enormous. Being enormously fat is being fat with knobs on - ‘enormously’ modifies ‘fat’. You could probably have an enormously fat fruit fly, or other tiny creature. The emphasis is on the ‘fat’, meaning blubbery, excessively large, instead of just a big child who got stuck in something (I forget what). Using ‘enormous’ removes the judgement.
‘Enormously fat’ is a cruel description that overweight children don’t need adding to the insults they will already suffer.
