Literary translation: what should we translate?

Hello everybody!

Today I want you to think about a very common issue in the translation of texts, specifically applied to literary translation. What should we translate and what not? The following image belongs to a fragment from the book Celia lo que dice, a serie of children's books that tell the story of Celia, a seven years old girl, written by Elena Fortún. 

This text was proposed in class to be translated from spanish into german. I have scanned this particular part because appears a racist phrase said by Celia to a black man («Qué no es nada, Dalila. Es un pobrecito negro que está esperando a su amo» > “It's nothing, Dalila. It is a black poor fellow who is waiting for his master”). In class it was suggested not to translate that sentence, that is, remove it in the target text, because the book is aimed primarily at children and we should not transmit them this type of negative values. I personally think that we should translate it for several reasons:

1. This book was published in 1928. In writing, the author was reflecting a reality of the time, perhaps by way of information about the society or as a critique of racism, because the commentary it is made by a little girl, possibly influenced by what is happening around her and what think the people around her.

2. Us as translators, should not care what it is said in a text, that is, it should care how it is said (in this case, the language of a seven years old girl), because our task is to write it in another language, but not to change the content based on our personal opinions and values. The author wrote her book as she wanted. Who are we to decide what we transmit to the target reader? (By this I don't mean not to improve the text, clarify ideas that may be confusing or make explanations about things that our readers might not understand in their culture. I mean this kind of moral issues that may influence or to go against our values).

3. To our target reader, in this case children, we don't want that they learn this kind of negative values, such as racism, but the opposite: tolerance. However, we don't have influence in the child who decides to read this book or parents who decide to buy it. I think that if a child reads this sentence and asks his parents why that behavior towards black men, they should explain it. I think the best way to educate is not hiding things, but explaining it. It is essential to know what racism is to fight it.

What do you think?