issues i see
1. proving the decendants
2. proving the original slave was not compensated when they were freed
There is a lot of intermarriage nowadays in the United States. A few months back, I read a statistic claiming that more than 30% of the black births are to mothers who are not black themselves. So in case a child is born to a father, who is a descendant of a slave and a mother, who is descendant of a slave-owner, will he/she be eligible for reparations? Also, blacks were not the only group to be enslaved. Asians, Whites (especially Irish and Slavs) as well as Native Amerindians were enslaved in the recorded history. Are their descendants eligible for reparations?
Obviously the cost in lives lost on the Union side to free the slaves will have to be charged against those freed. What shall the cost per life of these brave soldiers be calculated at? Even if it was limited to California residents, about 16,000 of them were in the Union armies. How will we insure the payment to their descendants?
Aside from the lives lost, there was an enormous materials and supplies cost by the Union. This should also be paid.
In other cases, the selfless giving of freedom to blacks by whites will have to be considered. That would be the loss of a titled asset worth considerable money. Shouldn't the whites get reparations for this monetary loss?