Separation vs. Integration...Were We Better Off?

Sometimes when I look around the culturally diverse city of Chicago, I secretly envy the fact that many different sects (i.e. Indian community, African community, Polish community, Chinese community) are able to sustain their ethnic identity and nativity by establishing business and institutions that best reflect their community values and customs, which ultimately empower them as a race.  I oftentimes think what if Blacks never fought for integration, but rather access to better resources by which to empower their own  independently functioning communities?  As I see it it today, Blacks have no collective source of community, and can therefore be easily exploited by other races, as was shown in Chris Rock's, "Good Hair,"  who have no true understanding of the needs of the communities that they serve.  Although segregation was inherently and morally unsound, the confidence (AND TRUST) that it forged amongst Blacks was very beneficial during a time of psychological hardship; but this trust has now disappeared altogether.  Under segregation Blacks became the change that they wanted to see instead of being beckoned by the promise that someone else would deliver that change.  Collectively, Blacks were more self-sufficient and were able to contribute significantly more to the economic fabric of the country--it seems now that we are merely the consumers of a strategic marketing game that has been designed to exploit our insecurities concerning our collective selves.  Did we forfeit our trust in each other to gain access to the "American Dream?"