Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Hamas chief Khalil Al-Hayya is meeting with Egypt's intelligence head to add finishing touches to Gaza agreement: Source
Israeli media: The ceasefire will begin tomorrow at 12:00 PM.
Israeli media, citing officials: The agreement will be signed today, and the release of the first batch of hostages will take place on Saturday or Sunday.
Palestinian Resistance sources to Al Mayadeen: Hamas and the factions have officially approved the deal. Trump was notified while he was live on air.
Palestinian Resistance sources to Al Mayadeen: Hamas has agreed to the deal, which will be signed on Thursday in Egypt.
Trump: We are very close to an agreement in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump: I will most likely go to Egypt.
Russian agency: Russia will conduct a nuclear test if the US does
Al-Nakhalah: We are the rightful owners, and we must fight to retrieve our rights
Al-Nakhalah: The enemy and its allies must know that we can never surrender to their terms and diktats after all the sacrifices made

Racial disparities in the US deny Black veterans with PTSD benefits

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 18 Mar 2023 12:42
4 Min Read

An open records lawsuit was filed by an advocacy group for Black veterans, which led to the report emergence.

  • x
  • Members of the Army march up 5th Avenue during the Veterans Day Parade in New York November 11, 2012. (Reuters)
    Members of the Army march up 5th Avenue during the Veterans Day Parade in New York on November 11, 2012. (Reuters)

Black veterans were more likely to be denied benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder than their white counterparts, according to a newly surfaced 2017 internal Veterans Affairs report. 

An analysis that crunched data from the fiscal year 2011 through 2016 showed that Black veterans who are seeking disability benefits for PTSD were rejected 57% of the time, compared to 43% for white veterans.

The report came out as part of an open records lawsuit filed by an advocacy group for Black veterans.

The agency did not immediately have data on the racial breakdown of PTSD disability benefits awards, said Terrence Hayes, a spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs, who continued to say that the agency “is gathering the data and will share it once fully compiled.”

Read more: 'Modern racism' radicalizing US citizen militias

The spokesperson wrote in an email that the agency could not comment on the ongoing litigation, but promised that Denis McDonough, VA Secretary, is still committed to addressing racial disparities regarding VA benefits. 

Hayes pointed out that McDonough announced the creation of an Equity Team. “That team’s first order of business will be to look into disparities in grant rates to Black veterans — as well as all minority and historically underserved veterans — and eliminate them," she told reporters.

Richard Brookshire, a Black veteran who served in Afghanistan as a combat medic, co-founded the Black Veterans Project in Baltimore. The project filed the Freedom of Information request lawsuit.

Related News

Black jobless rate soars to 7.5%, widening racial gap under Trump

13-year-old shot dead by New York police had replica gun

Brookshire expressed his frustration that the government aggressively recruits Black soldiers from Black neighborhoods but refuses to share data on disparities. “If they don’t know, it’s because they don’t want to know,” he said in an interview for NBC Washington.

Brookshire indicated that the VA initially provided him with data from 2002 through 2020, analyzed by a team at Columbia University. The data did in fact display disparities; however, the VA did not share its 2017 analysis until he filed the FOIA lawsuit.

The 2017 analysis is significant because it portrays that minority veterans showed higher rates (5.8%) of PTSD than nonminority veterans (5%). 

The disparities were highlighted in a series of reports by NBC News Now and NBC local stations in a series called "American Vets: Benefits, Race, and Inequality."

'Ever since I came back, I knew I had a problem'

Conley Monk Junior, 74, served as a Marine in Vietnam. Monk reported that he remained haunted by a gruesome incident; a fellow marine drove over a Vietnamese man in front of him. 

Monk expressed that he was unaware of the psychological implications which lingered after the incident. The violence he witnessed in Vietnam contributed to his PTSD. 

“Ever since I came back from Vietnam, I knew that I had a problem, but I didn’t know what it was. I knew that every time I would get angry as someone would put their hands on me, I would react, and it would get me in trouble.”

Monk was later transferred to Okinawa, where he also had two altercations which placed him in a “constant state of fear and hypervigilance,” according to court documents.

“You know, my sisters, or brothers, anyone put their hands on me, I would wake up fighting. So I knew I had a problem. But I didn’t know the name of it," Monk said.

  • PTSD
  • Black Americans
  • US veteran

Most Read

Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder revealed

Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder exposed

  • Politics
  • 5 Oct 2025
The Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza showed that after combating Israeli aggression for two years, they remain victorious in the face of oppression (Mahdi Rteil/Al Mayadeen English)

Al-Aqsa Flood two years on, a tale of victory

  • Politics
  • 6 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
An Israeli armored vehicle moves on a street of a local market during a military raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, Wednesday, October 8, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Israeli settlers kill Palestinian youth near Ramallah amid raids

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during the Moscow format consultations on Afghanistan in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran interested in resuming nuclear talks: Lavrov

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a news conference at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, April 25, 2025 (AP)
Politics

IMF head flags US budget, Europe Defense spending challenges

Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at UN headquarters (AP)
Politics

Meloni faces ICC complaint over Gaza genocide complicity with Israelis

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS