I said “for the most part,” so that we can note exceptions. I also chose the describer of “outright” because of its meanings of “in entirety: completely” and “without restraint or reservation.” This implies the existence of less complete forms of oppression. For example, we no longer have mandated segregation, even if we still have many instances of functional segregation.

I don’t think anyone would argue that modern conditions are not improved when compared to the days of slavery, Jim Crow, or before the Voting Rights Act. If those count as complete forms of oppression, then there should be a word for something less than that.

I don’t think there’s anything absurd about construing the statement this way.