That old chestnut is the lamest excuse for active racism that was ever concocted. But, yeah, I'd say the moral compass of white people at a time when lynchings were still occurring, "separate but equal" was the law of the land and the KKK was holding regular rallies across the nation was probably a bit skewed.

"If those roads didn't get built, the cities would stagnate and die."

They did stagnate and nearly die. Because the IHS made it easy for white folks to get from suburbs to the inner city. Then the retail stores and other services followed.

"And they did need to be built in some economically reasonable fashion."

Because what's a few thousand black homes and businesses bulldozed when there's a few bucks to be saved, right?

"But unless you have a solid proposal to deal with the facts that I outlined,..." I saw a bunch of uninformed baloney but I didn't see any "facts".

"solid proposal"

Maybe a "solid proposal" might include not destroying black homes and businesses to benefit white interests.