It depends on who you follow. People I follow are discussing strategies for paying off bills, investing it, whether they should put it toward their mortgage, save it, or pay off debt. The budgetnista group I'm in on facebook is majority black women doing the same. Some have said they would treat themselves, few have said they would blow all of it to do so though.
People I work with are talking about car and house repairs, paying debts, saving it. No one has said they would blow it.
A lot of people will have no choice but to spend it on necessities. Not everyone is doing well. Hundreds of thousands are dead, which means funeral costs for all those people, hospital expenses for even more. Not to mention prescription costs and doctors bills for ongoing chronic conditions when many have lost healthcare. Bills don't stop coming once someone loses their job, and not everyone was able to get unemployment for various reasons.
Many households have lost one or more incomes due to job loss or covid deaths. Family members and friends have taken in kids where both parents have died. So they are grieving and struggling at the same time. Kids are home from school which means childcare costs or reduced work hours/quitting so the parents can do it, if older siblings aren't there. They now need to feed them all three meals plus snacks vs one or two meals during a normal school year. They've had costs incurred such as internet and computers for their kids to school at home of for them to work at home and kids don't stop growing because schools are closed, they will still need clothes and shoes.
Not to mention the strain, stress and worry of dealing with it all.
You have a lot to say about uplifting our community, and what we can and should do, but always seem to have a poor opinion of the people in it. If we are so careless, none of the noble ideas you appear to hold dear can come to fruition.
You sound like a Republican who says $1400.00 is too much, but in reality, for many, it's not enough. People were struggling before the pandemic and some are in worse shape now. You are implying black folks will be blowing this check, rather than using it to get relief from all of the situations I've outlined above. Thinking that parallels with the white thinking that black folks were better off in slavery because we can't take care of ourselves or our families and need to be locked up or in controlled situations today.