I suspect that if Bonds were "clean" and whether he was a jerk or not, the vast majority of whites would wish him good luck and success.
OTOH, if it were a white player seeking the record that was held by a black man, clean or not, jerk or not, the majority of blacks would wish for failure.
It's an ugly reality.
Can somebody please explain to me, why race is considered an issue here? He’s going for the all time record held by another black man. So where is the race component?
There is strong evidence that Barry used steroids. While not specifically banned by baseball until 2002, the steroids he used were illegal unless prescribed by a physician. So he’s in violation of the drugs laws, if, he used steroids.
Some baseball records are meaningless. This all time home run record is one of them. He might play a couple more years and get over 800 homers. It won’t be a meaningful achievement. And not because of his race but because the court of public opinion thinks he used steroids. Even if he’ll never tell.
Most of the record breakers were booed against.
Including Maris and Aaron. Bonds is no different.