When this nation was founded, one aspect of the justice system was deliberately racist. Setting aside the extra-judicial nature of how misbehaving slaves were treated (no trial, no jury, no appeal, no counsel, no rights whatsoever), whole swaths of law were directed at maintaining white supremacy. This was a matter of public policy, and was even enshrined in the constitution.

After slavery was outlawed, this was followed by a period in which racism was further inculcated into the system in the absence of slavery, often called "Jim Crow" in which black people were routinely denied even the most basic rights. That this resembled in great measure their former status should suprise no one. The structure of the system ensured that blacks would be treated differently than whites. They always had been. We need not go over all the myriad ways in which blacks were disenfranchised and without rights. The history is easily accessible.

It's just as easy for us to understand the relationship between the two eras, how one begot the other. History matters because what happened yesterday informs what happens today.

And there is no reason to believe that this easily demonstrated racial momentum has been blunted today. History is not dead.