Retain "Comfort Women" Issue for ALL Women: An Update

I have had the opportunity, of late, to speak about WWII "Comfort Women" at readings and workshops and other venues.  After a White House Briefing to Filipino Americans, I updated community leaders from across the nation.  The Lolas are lost in all these reports -- as are "Comfort Women" from China, Dutch-Indonesia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia.  Japan would have you believe this is a Japanese/Korean thing -- a little dispute between nations with traditionally rocky relations.  It is not.  200,000 women and girls across Asia were taken hostage and placed into military sex-slave camps during WWII by the Japanese Imperial Army.  It is a human rights issue.  It is a treat our women with respect issue.

No attempt to erase this history from Japanese text books or government documents, no attempt to silence the images in a photo exhibit will wash away the truth.  The women were real and they were taken against their will.  Deny whatever you want, the stories are here and we are listening to the women -- even if they have traveled to the other side. Their stories bear witness.  Here is a radio interview I gave the other day to the North Bay Report on Sonoma County's NPR.  No joke, we are going to build living monuments and concrete markers to attest to these women -- to honor and remember them.  If you would like to contribute, let me know:  mevelinag@yahoo.com.