If discrimination and segregation is hidden now, what was the point of having it publically outlawed?

There are all these laws against discrimination and segregation, but it doesn’t change the reality of the situation. There are plenty of areas all over the country that still have white people living with white people, white people going to schools with white people, white employers hiring white employees and so on.

I, myself, live in a white gated community, within the larger white suburb. I go to a white private school. I went to my dads job once, and it was all white. Even the white suburb is divided by wealth. Some people tried to sue a couple of gated communities for discrimination, but they all lost. And when some finally mix it up, you see what is called white flight.

If theory cannot be applied to practice, what is the point? Am I missing something?