Dean, yes there are equal rights laws, yet we still are a long way from equal rights for everybody.  The 14th amendment required equal rights for all.  That didn't begin to materialize until the late 60's.  Affirmative Action was one of those laws.  Johnson's reasoning for that law was like this - When for generations I have kept my neighbor down, I have to now help him up.  Unfortunately, that remains true today.  I recently read an article about a town in Tennessee that voted to split its school district into two so that the more affluent whites could keep blacks out of their schools and keep their tax money from the black schools - white affirmative action.  It is easy to say that we solved all the problems with the civil rights legislation of the '60's, but looking at what's happening that is not the case. 

Finally Dean, since when did telling minorities that you will support their rights become "Identity Politics" other than for those who wish to actually prevent equal rights.