Black Words Matter, too!

Without Change, the Absence of Race Within Veteran Treatment Court Policies Will Continue to Destructively Impact African American Veterans

Veteran Treatment Courts (VTCs), one of several treatment court models, all create policies that govern their programs. VTCs are not impervious to acts that discriminate against African American veterans who are either participants or eligible to participate in their programs, thus, the time has come for changes in practices and policies, and wording is key.  Policy changes surrounding race inequities should be the first stop for review by VTCs and their leadership teams. 

Policy Wording

Policy wording is used to provide direction when issues arise that cannot be readily remedied. Policies can also be changed, particularly when a specific need is outlined. Racial disparities and discriminatory practices have long been an open debate at all levels of government and in private practice, which has led to a multitude of legislative efforts. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) recently published, for instance, that it understands that racial and gender disparities readily exist and that solutions through the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), and others, is being offered. Specifically, Gregory D. Torain, policy advisor for the BJA, declared that: 

“…We know treatment courts haven’t been immune to the racial and gender disparities, but BJA, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and local treatment courts are taking steps to remedy the inequities. There are now several toolkits to help staff analyze their courts’ operations to help them better represent the communities they serve…” (The Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2022, para. 8)

This disclosure by the BJA policy advisor, despite its lack of any implied authority for enforcement, confirms that change is certainly needed, and it should start with wording in the very policies that govern courts like VTCs.  Being specific with wording in policies designed to assist and protect our veterans must be a priority. Leaders at all levels of government, to include those within the judiciary, must be diligent in seeking out needed changes to level the playing field for those historically impacted. History has proven that words matter! Words can and have created opportunities and devastating circumstances concurrently, particularly when critical and impactful words, like race, are left out.

The 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act

One glaring historical example of how policy wording destructively affected African American veterans is the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, commonly known as the GI Bill, which did not reference race. Post-World War II, President Roosevelt, in instituting the GI Bill, created an avenue that openly discriminated against African American veterans. African American veterans faced very different existences than their white veteran counterparts when they returned home from the war. The GI Bill, through congressional actions, opened doors with generous federal appropriations for housing and education, which established and solidified some of the most substantial wealth transfers to many veterans since the Reconstruction era (Equal Justice Initiative, 2017; Herbold, 1994-1995; Meschede, et al., 2022). An impressive 7.8 million service men and women were educated under the GI Bill, which earned them an average of 10 to 15 thousand dollars more annually than those who did not complete college or vocational training. However, this same congressional action also effectively closed doors and shut out 1.2 million African American veterans who had also heroically served their country, in segregated units. African American veterans certified by the Veterans Administration (VA) for GI Bill use, who then attempted to use their benefits, faced a society explicitly hostile towards their success. Through the absence of wording that banned discerning practices, e.g., racial discrimination, African Americans were often shunned, segregated, and relegated to lower economic forms of existence (Meschede, et al., 2022). African American veterans were forced to live in redlined districts created by the same federal government that afforded them the GI Bill (Schott Foundation, 2022). Words matter!

Today, some 79 years later, we still see evidence of racial disparities within and post military service. African Americans continue to be amongst the most discriminated against racial demographic (Hannah-Jones, 2021), African American veteran unemployment rates are still higher, and wealth continues to be substantially lower than white veterans, but why? African Americans have served, with distinction, in every war America has ever fought (Starks, Rogers, & Dunbar, 2021) and, according to recent sources, they are still afforded VA benefits at lower rates than white veterans. Home values are still rated lower and often targeted as less desirable (Moss, 2020), frequently by white appraisers and even those appointed by VA commissioned evaluators. This devaluation directly impacts African American veterans home equity if they need to mount a legal defense (McIntosh, 2020; Starks, 2022); this particularly since African Americans are still disproportionately targeted and incarcerated at higher rates (Carrega, 2021). Words matter! Perceived disparities are also noted in received VA healthcare services.

Equity and Fairness Within the VA Healthcare System

As another offered example, the VA has been collecting and reviewing literature surrounding Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the VA Healthcare System for at least 15-years (see Saha, Freeman, Toure, Tippens, & Weeks, 2007). The effort in their 2007 review outlined, and effectively legitimized, a series of studies that examined various aspects of racial disparities, which also could have influenced policies and behaviors involving African American veterans. Some reviewed and referenced studies seemingly ‘victim blamed’ and referenced the lack of ‘intellect/literacy‘ of African American veterans for disparities in healthcare services received. Understanding this, many continue to wonder why African American Veterans and their general community populations continue to distrust the VA and the American healthcare system. This too is not only seeming to be a purposeful strategy to continue the status quo, it also appears to be a means to oppose needed changes given the period information has been collected. Thus, according to some reports reviewed, the problem appears not to be the VA system, its clinicians, or healthcare workers, rather, African American veterans. Surely this information could effectively trigger some African American veterans into a perception of their taxpayer contributions being utilized to delegitimize and undermine their equal access to, and treatment within, the VA healthcare system, and with little evidence as to why. Likewise, resulting frustrations could potentially trigger hostile and criminogenic reactions when appropriate resolutions are not provided by the very system that should have answers. This also, of course, is the very same healthcare system that African American VTC participants are utilizing while navigating their programs.

The National Veterans Justice Commission (NVJC), in 2022 formed a think tank made of senior political and military leaders, policy makers, and researchers. This committee will examine elements, review research, and engage in ascertaining testimony regarding veteran incarceration, and then will look to work collaboratively in “developing recommendations for evidence-based policy changes that enhance safety, health, and justice.” This is critical work, as given Americas history, e.g., due to possible reactions to racialized treatment, unequal access to VTCs, or discrimination in received veteran benefits, etc., disabled service members of African American descent may be on the verge of being triggered daily into behaviors that legally reflects poorly on themselves while the VA system is systematically failing them simultaneously.  

To conclude, policy changes surrounding race inequities should be the first stop for review by VTCs and their leadership teams. If we do not specifically state race and its influences within the policies we create and follow, it creates a distinct avenue to ignore the impact its absence will have on people of color, particularly African American veterans, as history past and present has shown us all that Black Words Matter, too!

References

Carrega, C. (2021, October 13). Black Americans are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of Whites, new report on state prisons finds. CNN. Retrieved January 3, 2023.

Equal Justice Initiative. (2017). Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans. 52. Retrieved January 1, 2023.

Hannah-Jones, N. (2021). The 1619 Project. New York: Random House LLC.

Herbold, H. (1994-1995). Never a Level Playing Field: Blacks and the GI Bill. 6 (Winter), 104-108. doi:10.2307/2962479

McIntosh, K. M. (2020, February 27). Examining the Black-white wealth gap. Up Front. The Brookings Institute. Retrieved February 1, 2022.

Meschede, T., Eden, M., Jain, S., Miles, B., Martinez, M., Stewart, S., . . . Madison, M. (2022). Institute for Economic and Racial Equity Research Brief: Interim Report from our GI Bill study. The Heller School For Social Policy and Management: Institute for Economic and Racial Equity. Retrieved January 4, 2023.

Moss, E. M. (2020, December 8). The Black-white wealth gap left Black households more vulnerable. Up Front. The Brookings Institute. Retrieved January 31, 2022.

Saha, S., Freeman, M., Toure, J., Tippens, K., & Weeks, C. (2007, June). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the VA Healthcare System: A Systematic Review [Internet] Excutive Summary. Health Services Research & Development Service. Washington (DC): Department of Veterans Affairs (US).

Schott Foundation. (2022, January 26). The 1968 Kerner Commission Report Justice Delayed: The Unmet Promise of Equality. Schott Foundation 30th Anniversary Event. YouTube. 

Starks, J. (2022, February 15). African American History: Are Collaborative Courts abolitionist within the Judiciary?  Justice Speakers Institute. Retrieved from Justice Speakers Institute.

Starks, J., Rogers, T. T., & Dunbar, T. J. (2021). Civil Unrest: A Collaborative of Veteran Perspectives, Experiences, and Recommendations for Healing. Justice Speakers Institute. Retrieved from Justice Speakers Institute.