The law does not prevent someone from having a racist hiring policy; it prevents someone from having a provably racist hiring policy. There's lot of subtle ways to be racist that won't get you thrown in jail.
The same applies to age, gender, gender identity, sexuality, hair colour, health, political persuasion, religious persuasion...

You cannot stop individuals from being prejudiced, You can try, and we do indeed try.

Bullshit. They were told that because it was (and probably still is, though to a lesser extent) true. Further, being told that does not automatically keep someone from trying to improve your lot.
It's not bullshit. But you're right, being told you're oppressed doesn't mean you don't try to improve your life. That's why some black people succeed, despite being told by those in positions of influence that they are oppressed.

Hard work and motivation are not all that's needed to succeed. You also need ability, opportunity and variance.
Well I've already mentioned intelligence, ability is what you have when you combine intelligence and motivation. opportunity... you know we disagree here. Black people have opportunity, the same as I did. I went to college, I didn't apply myself, so I failed. Who is telling black people they can't go to college? Variance? That's another way of saying luck, and that applies to everyone, not just black people.

They're also more likely to be imprisoned, and for a longer time, than a white person for the same crime. Explain how that is fair.
It's not, but is it really happening? Or are these people going to prison for longer because their previous criminal history is more extensive?

Again, talking about individual 'Dads' is not relevant when discussing population level effects.
You mentioned an individual Dad. If you mean Dads in general, then you can read back my comment and also assume Dads in general.

If Dad is in jail, chances are it's because Dad did something illegal. It's not because the state decided to oppress anyone.

If by this you mean don't pander to minorities, then sure. But that's not going to solve the problem of why the minorities are doing worse than the majority group.
I mean abandon identity politics. Yes, that includes pandering to minorities, convincing them they are victims so you can pretend you're there to help them.

What I mean is that we need politicians who care more about what's good for the country than they do about votes.