A carefully reasoned assessment of a complex issue. I agree entirely with your policy recommendations.

However, I would suggest rebranding them with something other than the word "reparations" which always raises the hackles of those (mostly white folks like me but also immigrants from other countries) who may say "I never enslaved nor oppressed anyone, so why should I pay anything?"

The basic problem is that money is a zero-sum game: the more you have, the less is left for others, and the more easily you can get yet more, while those at the bottom of the economic ladder just get poorer, less educated, less healthy, and more desperate. A just economic policy should thus try to offset this intrinsic property of money--upward concentration of wealth--whether by progressive taxes, scholarship programs, or direct assistance to those most destitute (regardless of ethnicity).

Let's ALL--of all ethnicities--support policies that increase health care, nutrition, and educational and employment training opportunities for all of us, regardless of our ethnic heritage or poverty!