A basic income program funded by descendants of slave owners provides $1,000 a month as a form of reparations

Buck and Gracie Close are funding a basic income program for victims of unjust policing. They view the program as a form of reparations for their family’s history as slave owners. The program, supported by the ACLU of Louisiana, is giving $1,000 a month to 12 people. Buck and Gracie Close aren’t shy about their family history.The siblings, both in their 70s, are the descendants of slave owners who operated lucrative cotton mills in North Carolina. One of their ancestors was a prominent slave trader in the region.“We were raised with the myth of the Old South and how wonderful everybody was, and kind, and family-like with the slaves that they did hold,” Gracie Close, a 72-year-old based in Washington state, told Business Insider.“The role of slavery in creating generational wealth was not something that we discussed or thought about growing up,” said Buck Close, who is 74 and now resides in Louisiana. “We were always immersed in the valor of the Old South. At that time we were, anyways.” Advertisement The two siblings are now privately funding a yearlong basic income program in Louisiana focused on transferring wealth to people who were victims of racist policing, an act they...