Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. Like so many Vermonters, we were sickened and angered by the experiences of the Vermont women of color highlighted in VTDigger this week in the article entitled, âAs women of color leave Rutland and Bennington counties, Vermonters reckon with racism.â These stories are horrifying. And also not surprising. There is no Vermont exceptionalism. Like the rest of the nation, we have real work to do here in the Green Mountain State. When President Barack Obama was elected president, we heard a lot of commentators proclaim that we were in a âpost-racialâ society. Of course this was not at all true. And now, with the historic inauguration of Kamala Harris to the position of vice president, itâs once again critical to acknowledge that although this milestone is both exciting and long overdue, we must be honest and admit that systemic racism still exists in our nation and here in Vermont.