it's even worse than that cos the original text never said ariel's human version race, they just assumed it lol.
and before anyone says yes but its written by a dane, my response is yes but it's a fairy tale, anything is possible. why assume and then get angry based on your assumption?
no, that illustration apparently came 12 years later
anyway as an 1800s fairy tale for children, imo i think it's fine to view it through the lens of whichever culture you want. the trouble imo begins when trying to ascribe something to the story which it certainly did not contain - even that is probably basically harmless if you're just confused or something, but it certainly becomes a problem when it's used to justify unfairly shitting on someone else for a slightly different yet completely harmless alternative depiction.