I guess I was not clear in my comment. In no way, I was implying that India is better than USA. My surprise stemmed from the fact that based on my current experience, it seems odd that it was barely 50 years ago that race discrimination was rampant. I would have thought that those things would have put behind 100 years ago for USA to be where it is.

It's worse than you might imagine. The federal Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. Before that time, it was legal to have a "covenant" that prohibited blacks from living in certain neighborhoods (housing developments). It was some years after 1968 that it actually started being enforced with some vigor.

You can still talk to older people (say, people in their 60s) in Los Angeles, who chose the house they now live in because that neighborhood allowed blacks, asians, or mixed-race couples to buy property, and other nearby neighborhoods did not allow it.

In other words, even these blatant and widespread effects of racism are not past history by any means.

Note: I'm not disagreeing with what you've said, just trying to add some historical background.