I find it excellent that you were able to query your white friend with real examples from your discussions with educated black friends. It creates a bridge to others to compare the same socio-economic bracket to truly consider the hardship others face, in this case Black Americans, under identical experiences. We need more of this connection, this bridging that is done through questioning from experience.

As an aside, I learn that I just learned that in comparison to the Talmudic law you mentioned, the English law or common law was set up based on the treaty of 878 when Alfred the Great was forced to accept the Church and their system of “Christian law” in exchange for losing. The Church, later the Catholic Church, actually assimilated countries into the diverse empire and the Kings paid tribute in exchange for literacy, accepting Christianity, and the using the Ten Commandments as the basis for law. The French and Spanish already succumbed, able to keep their realms it appears, with the illiterate Anglo-Saxon invaders into Brittanica in 450 AD, who killed and settled in a space previous occupied by the Celtic literate Christians, finally giving in in 878 AD. The Catholic priests really acted as kind of pre-lawyers, and were able to set up a system of law and of course taxation. Just two cents there might be of interest.