I think your post starting with “socially liberal but fiscally conservative” and your provision of “gay people in my family” explains a lot. When you arrived you tolerated those who are different - marginalized even - but you didn’t see the systemic problems that kept/keeps them marginalized.

The trump administration certainly moved extraordinary racism (ie the things people wouldn’t say out loud) to not only out loud but normalized and basically quotidian. I think you just found yourself aligning more strongly with that rhetoric.

I think living in DC for me has allowed me to explore my own biases and continue to examine crime with compassion (it’s certainly hard when you’re the target or crime) - ie being anti racist. It’s definitely hard and the approach has received scrutiny because the telos is constantly changing but that’s kinda the point.