The whole story of the comfort women, the system of forced sexual slavery, the medical experiments of Unit 731, is not something that is in the US psyche. That is changing because many books are coming out.

They probably do have an Asian Barbie.

As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.

If the conditions were right there could be great acceptance. Often it is only when they pose an economic or political threat that it turns really ugly.

There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston, probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country?

Racism is always there underneath, but usually it is exploited in these times of economic crisis, and it's hard to find out when one slides into another.

When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute.