Yet another reason affirmative action was so important to racial minorities; the network effect of social circles (which tend to be fairly segregated) provide unique access to avenues of power and privilege. These roads have historically remained closed to minorities.

Of course, to the people that made affirmative action illegal, the racist status quo that allows well-connected white people to get what they want through back-channels is totally fine. If a Black person wanted to pull some strings to get into an elite institution, they should just have been born a different race, and problem solved!