Black Veterans Group Demands the VA to Release Racial Data

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Black veterans and advocacy groups have reached out to Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration and Board of Veterans Appeals to seek information about racial discrimination complaints and “racial disparities across the benefits system,” according to a press release.

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The information requests come weeks after a New York Times opinion piece detailing how Black employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs are disproportionately fired from national positions. The story also indicated that “white workers are almost twice as likely as their Black counterparts” to be promoted to higher-level position.

A summer survey from the American Federation of Government Employees found that more than three quarters of union veterans think racism is a problem in the VA. {snip}

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“For decades, VA has been negligent in its responsibility to remedy how racial discrimination impacts the veterans it serves,” says Richard Brookshire, Black Veterans Project co-founder, who believes there has been “physical, psychological and economic” damage done, scars largely ignored by the institution.

“Black veterans can no longer rely on officials alone to shift VA’s legacy of racism,” he said. {snip}