Interesting article. I was struck by the Russian revolution which put the peasants, essentially slaves in their own right in power, while even so, the revolutionaries progeny's racism expressed itself despite the lack of a distinct socio-economic dichotomy such as that which exacerbates racism here in America. It leads me to wonder where the divide begins between a natural curiosity of people and things that lie outside our normal purview and overt racism. Intuitively, I suspect fear, real or imagined, plays a leading role in such distinctions. Conversely an instilled sense of security would seem to short circuit the racist components of our fear of that 'otherness'.

"I was the only black person in Tyumen -- Tyumen is a Siberian city and there were no black-skinned people at all. No one had ever seen one. That's why there was simply this heightened curiosity toward me. It was heightened so much at times that it crossed over the borders of tact."