A UBI solves race-based harms like racial stereotypes, racial resentment, and shame.

The contemporary proposal for UBI on grounds of racial justice comes from Dorian Warren (2016) in the Movement for Black Lives' manifesto. Under most UBI proposals [excluding those that would overall reduce the benefits available to the worse off, like Charles Murray's (2016)] those most disadvantaged stand to benefit most. Since black families in the United States are disproportionately found at the bottom of the wealth and income distribution, and since unemployment is twice as high among black workers as among white workers, black families stand to gain most from the policy. Warren (2016) also argues that the proposal's commitment to universality would make it harder for governments to exclude felons and ex-felons from the safety net. Under a system designed to target the deserving and screen out the undeserving, those tied up in the criminal justice system would be more easily excluded. This is important for racial justice given the overrepresentation of people of color in prisons, and given the discrimination experienced by ex-convicts in the labor market.

Last, but not least, UBI could help disrupt the racial tropes and racial resentment pervasive around the existing welfare system. Negative racist stereotypes of lazy black youth and welfare mothers have important consequences. For a start, they force those in need to think twice before claiming benefits, the risk of stigmatization and demonization being high. This explains in part low take-up rates. Racial tropes also serve to shame recipients to keep them in check and incentivize them further to find employment. Furthermore, there is now ample evidence that racial resentment contributes to low support for welfare. Even when programs do not in fact benefit nonwhites more than whites, the myth of the lazy black recipient contributes to a welfare backlash. The pervasiveness of racial stereotypes is thus concerning both because demonized populations are less likely to enjoy the full benefits of assistance and because it contributes to a welfare backlash that is worrying from a progressive perspective. A universal income support system would be less likely to stigmatize the target population, since all members of the community would get a UBI. If benefits are destigmatized, those worse off are less likely to suffer self-respect harms and to drop out of programs they require to live well.