The modern day civil rights era came of age in the 1960s, which would seem to thus indicate that for those that have historically been oppressed and taken advantage of, that we would logically expect that with these vital civil rights thereby secured, that the conditions for blacks as well as others minorities, in regards to opportunity, employment, education, housing, and healthcare -- in addition to incarceration rates, that these all would show definitive signs of improvement. After all, a society that makes it their point, to improve the lot of those that have been disadvantaged for so long, must for a certainty, produce positive results.
As in just about anything of some controversy, there are arguments that could be made to prove that, in fact, conditions for blacks and other minorities, have materially improved, but there are also valid counterarguments to that supposition. In fact, when it comes to fundamental concerns such as poverty, educational standards, neighborhoods, employment, health, and wealth, the civil rights era while bringing substantial improvement for some, has also continued to leave behind a very disappointing amount of so many. Further to our interests, when it comes to the policing arm of the state, what we so find, in regards to how minorities have fared, since the inception of the modern civil rights era, leaves something to be desired. That is to say, pewresearch.org, tells us that the incarceration rate for black males in 1960 was 1,313 per 100,000 United States residents, and the Hispanic incarceration rate in 1960 for males was 601 per 100,000 United States residents. Yet, in 2010, the incarceration rate for black males was a staggering 4,347 per 100,000 United States residents, and the Hispanic incarceration rate in 2010 for males was a sky-high 1,775 per 100,000 United States residents. These numbers are astonishing increases, which fairly reflects that there seems to be a tradeoff between those civil rights obtained, in relationship to the incarceration of minorities, so of. In other words, those that believe that minorities are an ever present source of trouble for this nation, have in this modern age of civil rights and of supposed equality for all, made it their point and principle to essentially criminalize more and more minorities, apparently, so as to maintain their control and intimidation over them.
So too, the point of incarcerating so many minorities at such a high rate, while failing to deal with the systemic problems and issues that contribute to criminal activity, is done so as to maintain the narrative, that minorities, or at least a meaningful portion of them, are incorrigible; and thus, they only respect the whip as wielded by the policing arm of the state, in which, then, they thereupon know their place. This then is the disgrace of the United States, for, if in fact, had modern day civil rights corrected all the wrongs and injustices that had been in place for generations, then we would expect to see, far less incarceration, rather than what has so occurred, which is a substantial amount more of minorities so having been incarcerated.
In sum, to live in the wrong type of neighborhood, with a skin color that is non-white, and to have limited resources to ever amount any sort of meaningful defense of one’s character or potential, signifies, that civil rights or not, those that are of the unfavored races, are in worse shape, today, then they were back then.