Thread hijack alert: This is interesting to me Herbgeek, because I used to define myself as "socially liberal and fiscally conservative." I'm Independent or Unenrolled as they now call us in MA, but my votes used to tend towards Republican. At some point, I think it was during the Obama administration, I really shifted and now my votes lean very strongly Democratic (the major exception being that I often like our MA Republican governors). So I thought it was me who changed, but maybe they've moved the goalposts or something (is that a relevant metaphor?) You've given me some food for thought.
IL: I've always had trouble understanding that viewpoint about how it is "bad" to ask black friends to help us understand their experiences (although agree it isn't their job to teach us history, of course we need to do some work ourselves). I think real learning comes from hearing perspectives of people with different backgrounds and viewpoints. I keep hearing about people being in right wing "echo chambers," and I don't want to live in an echo chamber.