death to capslock

You raise some excellent points here. Lily's friends might not have liked how she ended her friendship with Severus. I know the characters were teenagers at the time and teenagers can do awful, hurtful things that they regret later once they're adults. Yet only one person in SWM changed for the better. All parties behaved badly here, but only Severus apologised for his behaviour and learnt from it. Severus became an adult who told Phineas Nigellus not to use the word Mudblood and died fighting against Voldemort (and Voldemort persecuted non magic users and people with non magical parents. Please excuse me - I don't like using the word 'muggles', it sounds ridiculous to me).

Lily and Remus did not meet their duties as prefects. Severus' racial slur against Lily was inexcusable, but she should have protected him from being beaten up and humilated by James Potter and his friends.

You're right - the black American soldiers you mentioned fought for their country in WW2, having experienced horrifying racism. They served their duties and risked their lives. They deserve all of our respect and admiration.

I wouldn't want to have 15 year old Lily as a comrade in the Order. Maybe if she'd lived longer she might have matured and regretted her past behaviour. It's hard to say.

Thank you so much for writing this thoughtful and intelligent post. :)