re: Maddie Scharfenstein, Sage Ryan and double standard of the "N-word"

Yep! Back in the 60's I was accused of being a racist, merely because I was from Louisiana, by two shipmates. One was from Iowa, the other from Illinois.
The guy from Iowa was in the submarine service along with me but on a different Submarine. He later became very racist.
There was a black shipmate, Ronald Addison, who came aboard the USS Lafayette at about the same time as me. We became close friends. We worked well together on the Sub. One day a shipmate from Ohio approached me and asked "why do you hang out with that N----"? I was. surprised.
Fast forward forty years. On line, I found Ronald Addison, Baltimore, MD. email address, and sent a message. He responded, "I can't think of anyone I would rather have heard from.
Sad we can't judge a person by their character rather than skin color.
Ron was a good shipmate and a good friend.