so you're claiming that blacks were not harmed by the denial of services they faced in the south before civil rights?
I'm not going to categorically deny any harm came to blacks from practices made illegal by the civil rights acts.
However, it is hard to see how you can say they were harmed for having to order take out from behind the diner, instead of being able to plop down on a bar stool.
They could still obtain a meal.
I'm also not saying that I wish we still had such practices or that blacks don't deserve go be able to incorporate into society.
The integration of blacks into society would have been better for all, even if it took a couple decades longer to achieve, if it could have happened naturally.
There are ways to accomplish this.
Without mandate from the government, slavery would have ended naturally, and integration into society of blacks would have occurred naturally.
Slavery wouldn't have seen the 20th century, and segregation wouldn't have seen the 21st, if it happened at all.
Much of the animosity towards blacks was a direct result of their emancipation. Prior to the civil war race relations were better than at any point following until very recent
times.
We might not have even had "separate but equal" in this country if it weren't for forced emancipation.