A black woman officer I served with in the Air Force used to complain to me bitterly about VMI graduates. She experienced VMI-produced officers generally as overtly and viciously sexist and racist, much more so than officers coming from other ROTC programs or from her own Air Force Academy alma mater.

Her visceral hatred of VMI racism struck me so powerfully that I crafted a scene several years ago in a novel in which a black woman officer is racially and sexually harassed by a VMI graduate.

People in the military aren’t the least bit surprised by that chapter of my novel. Many vets have told me they find the scene unsurprising and utterly realistic. They know VMI produces officers who tend to be vicious racists and sexists.

But sadly, nobody is doing anything about this vile institution. Too many white people in the South are proud of VMI and its overtly racist traditions and practices.