SLSL Intro A Couple-Three Bonzos

[MalignD at aol.com]

tyrotortoise:

<< But with this second reading you've altered the meaning of the sentence. 
Right?  >>

No.  

"Serve" has many definitions, one of which is "to be adequate," which I 
think, because of context, is the usage Pynchon intends.  It comes more clear 
if the sentence is slightly recast:

"It may yet turn out that racial differences are not as basic as questions of 
money and power, but have served in keeping [been adequate to keep] divided, 
and so relatively poor and powerless, those who deplore them most."