I actually don't mind this one cause it's in response to housing issues from a specific period of time. It's not as simple as "you're black so have some money cause slavery".
Sort of like the tax write-offs one can get for living in a house/ apartment that is known to have lead paint. It's...
There's a canon prequel novel for DMC5 written by the head DMC5 writer where the 2nd protagonist from DMC2 is Dante's love interest. So yes it's canon.