Blacks were still unemployed at twice the rate of whites, they occupied low-wage jobs, had little wealth, and these momentous laws provided no conceivable path out of poverty.8 Abolishing racist laws was not the same thing as achieving equality. Ending segregation was not the same thing as integration. Ending job discrimination was not the same thing as having jobs. Ending credit discrimination was not the same thing as providing credit. A legal right to equality was meaningless to the destitute and marginalized unless it could open a path
