My worry is that it would create unnecessary racist tensions. People who are in severe poverty would be extremely resentful if they didn’t get assistance for not being the right race.
The cycle of poverty is a universal problem that transcends race and I believe it should be solved at the root of the problem which is intergenerational poverty and discrimination. No matter what the cause, nobody should be left behind and especially not for racial reasons.
Also agree that this many years after slavery there is nobody to directly compensate. Is less than 1% black ancestry enough? Do they do DNA tests or would they need to prove they had an ancestor who was a slave? Many don’t have family historical records, I know many people who don’t even know their grandparents.
What if someone is a billionaire whose family had recently immigrated as a wealthy family from Africa? Are they getting it but a homeless person of every other race gets nothing? It effectively turns into a sort of racial means testing that is divisive and overly complicated.
For decades I was always surprised he was still alive. He seemed to live forever commenting on foreign policy. Just saw your post and was surprised he had died.