I once watched a movie where the heavies were a 7 foot tall, monstrous race clad in glowing green fur. They also had fangs and claws.
At least one review that I read described this monsters disparagingly as "obvious Negro stereotypes." (This was in 1980, so Negro, capitalized, was still the polite and 'scientific' term.)
No logic will make an impression on a reviewer desperate to show how sensitive s/he is. If they can look at a 7 foot glowing green monster and see a black man, why not see Latinos in Lucas' creations?
I suspect that they spent most of the 1960s looking at men (of whatever color) and seeing 7 foot glowing green monsters.