The U.S. government has discriminated against “countless” Black military veterans dating back decades, rejecting service-connected disability claims disproportionately compared to White applicants, and blocking access to housing and education benefits that helped fuel the rise of America’s middle class after World War II, a lawsuit filed Monday claims.“VA leaders knew or should have known and negligently failed to redress.” The lawsuit relies on internal VA data showing that, from 2002 to 2020, the agency denied Black people seeking disability benefits nearly 30 percent of the time whereas White applicants experienced a 24 percent rejection rate.“We are actively working to right these wrongs.” VA disability awards compensate veterans for injuries that result from military duty.VA produced the benefits data cited in the lawsuit following a complaint in federal court by the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress and the Black Veterans Project.Richard Brookshire, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and is the co-founder of the Black Veterans Project, said it appears VA has never examined whether race was a factor in its benefits decisions."