It's a tricky prospect, trying to balance hate speech and distinguishing it from someone simply expressing bad thoughts.
I guess I'm someone who came with a lot of poor, preconceived notions, and it took some time, patience, and radicalizing to arrive where I am today.
I've had some pretty awful takes over the years and said insensitive things, but it's other comrades who turned me on to better ideas.
Also going to point out that I know for a fact at least one of those people you banned is a PoC, but we all know how happy white Reddit mods are to throw their authority at brown people who get too uppity. Some habits don't die, huh?