NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Black veterans are more likely to have their benefits claims denied than their white peers because of systemic discrimination problems within the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a lawsuit filed against the VA on Monday.
The suit was filed in federal court in Connecticut by the Yale University Veterans Legal Services Clinic, on behalf of Marine Corps veteran Conley Monk Jr.
The lawsuit asks for "redress for the harms caused by the failure of VA staff and leaders to administer these benefits programs in a manner free from racial discrimination against Black veterans."
It claims that for nearly 50 years after Monk returned home to Connecticut in 1970, the VA improperly denied his applications for education, housing, and disability benefits.
Monk suspected racial bias.
"First of all, I would like to see those practices change," Monk said in an interview with 13News Now. "I would like to see other veterans, Black veterans, not have to go through the fights and the struggles that I had to go through."
Monk continued: "It took me a lot of years to get any types of benefits. So, I mean, that shouldn't happen to any vet."
The suit stems from the Yale clinic's analysis of racial disparities in VA claims records. They showed that between 2001 and 2020, the average denial rate for disability claims filed for Black veterans was 29.5%, significantly above the 24.2% for white veterans.
"There's no reason to believe it's not happening to this day," said Michael Sullivan, a Yale Law School student intern at the Veterans Legal Services Clinic. "And so, with this lawsuit, we're hoping to not only rectify this injury that was caused to Mr. Monk, Jr. and other Black veterans, but also put the VA on a trajectory to stop treating Black veterans in this manner."