Things like affirmative action do not exist as revenge or compensation for some past act, they are there to undo some of the still present damage from those acts.
>they are there to undo some of the still present damage from those acts.
In which case income/wealth/SES are the better metrics, as they ensure those who are damaged get help instead of relying on some other measure as a proxy for damage.
Income is easy to measure, but it does not capture wealth very well. Even if we measure all total assets, there is still an enormous amount of unmeasured wealth: can you go to a family member or friend for financial help in an emergency? Even when we compare people with the same income and total assets, that latter question tends to be different for white people versus black people.
In America, black people suffered organized, systemic oppression for generations which prevented them from accumulating wealth. That fact is not well capture by just looking at someone's income, or even all of their assets. That's also a question of all accumulated assets of all of their family and close friends.
There are many asian people who have had ancestors wronged in some way, and many black people who's ancestors had nothing bad done to them (in the US, at least).
Why do you focus your attention entirely on the latter category and also include African/Carribean immigrants into the beneficiary group? Do asian children who are still suffering from wrongs done to their ancestors not deserve help?
>Do asian children who are still suffering from wrongs done to their ancestors not deserve help?
This is why SES is the better standard as it helps those who still need help, regardless if it was due to past systematic discrimination or if some more recent event created the economic harm. (It isn't perfect as it only aids based on economic harm, but it is better than other measures which attempt to measure economic harm with some other proxy.)
In which case income/wealth/SES are the better metrics, as they ensure those who are damaged get help instead of relying on some other measure as a proxy for damage.