The Department of Veterans Affairs has discriminated against Black veterans for years, disproportionately denying disability claims applications compared with those filed by white veterans, a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court claims.
Conley Monk Jr., a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps, alleges that the VA improperly denied his claims for disability benefits, housing assistance and education benefits for decades before reversing course in December 2020.
And although the VA eventually granted his claims, Monk obtained records through the Freedom of Information Act that he, attorneys and advocates say showed a “statistically significant difference” in VA claims decisions for Black veterans compared with white veterans, resulting in discrimination that dates back decades.
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“This lawsuit records the shameful history of racism by the Department of Veterans Affairs and seeks to redress long-standing impropriety and inaction reverberating across generations of Black military service,” said Richard Brookshire, CEO of the Black Veterans Project, during a press conference Monday announcing the suit.
The suit is based on VA data indicating that from 2002 to 2020, nearly 30% of disability claims filed by Black veterans were denied when compared with a 24.2% rejection rate for claims filed by white veterans.
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