Connecticut Veteran Legal Center congratulates our friends and partners at Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress for a significant victory for Black veterans. The U.S. District Court in Connecticut has agreed to hear a case against the VA brought by USMC veteran Conley Monk and Connecticut-based National Veterans Council for Legal Redress. Despite knowledge dating back to the 1970’s that Black service members were more likely to face military disciplinary action, VA records obtained by Mr. Monk and NVCLR show that VA continues to make benefits determinations in a way that systematically results in the denial of benefits for Black veterans.

Mr. Monk, himself a Black veteran, fought for forty years to obtain benefits for his service. Although the VA argued that a federal court did not have jurisdiction over this issue, the Court disagreed and will take the case.

This case is still ongoing and there is much left to do to correct the injustices our service members and veterans continue to face.

“It is vital that the VA, and also the DOD, come to terms with how Black veterans are treated within these systems. The government’s own data clearly shows that Black service members are punished more harshly than their white counterparts while in service, and then denied the veterans benefits they were promised. This case will help push the VA to stop assuming that military separations are fair and race-blind, because they are not.” – Alden Pinkham, CVLC Staff Attorney

For more about Monk v. United States, visit Yale Law School Veterans Legal Clinic’s summary here.

For more information about how the military discharge system discriminates against Black service members, read our 2022 report for free online (opens as pdf): Discretionary Injustice: How Racial Disparities in the Military’s Administrative Separation System Harm Black Veterans.