there are 650 million acres of Federally owned land. That is about 30% of the total.
Since there are about 40 million blacks in America, we can't give each of them 40 acres.
What I suggest instead is to have them trace back their lineage (on their dime) to the time of slavery. If the family can PROVE they had an direct ancestor that was a slave at the end of the Civil War (when the promise was supposed to have been made), they can divide the 40 acres between the decendents.
By the time they figure it all out with the overlapping claims (what if you have two or more ancestors, what if one slave has 500 or 1000 descendents?) it will be ridiculous. Toss in the caveat that if the land is not homesteaded within 2 years of the granting of the land it returns to the Federal Government, and you have a real carnival on your hands.
Hey, it is nothing more than what they were promised in the first place. We could even toss in the mule for them to share.
I kind of chuckled and asked her, you mean your family with the 200 some-odd folks we see at Family Reunion every year? She says, "Yep. We all get to share the 40 acres."
I asked her, you want to start a new kind of "Family Feud?"
She shrugged a little. "Hey, why not?"