Tokenism increased the sense of complacency among white Americans when it came to issues of racial inequality. Because the Supreme Court had made a ruling that
seemed significant, many white people felt as if the country had done enough and didn’t need to keep striving toward equality. And yet, the Pupil Placement law ensured that school segregation was still very much in effect, even if segregation was technically illegal. Although white lawmakers had made a move toward change, then, it amounted to little more than a symbolic gesture that—in some ways—stalled the nation’s progress.