I really enjoyed the readings and movie for this week. The movie Mississippi Masala by Mira Mair was really relatable for me. I relate to the character Mina in small ways. My grandparents came to America in the 1980s because of the Vietnam War, and for them, that relocation was difficult because they had to leave their home and other family members behind. Even though my own parents are more open-minded about the culture here in the United States, my grandparents held their own traditions and beliefs. Growing up, I had a lot of friends from different backgrounds and ethnic groups. It wasn’t until later when I began to notice the subtle difference in how my grandparents would treat my friends whenever they come over to my house. Toward my Asian friends, my grandparents were more open when interacting with them. However, my grandparents would often be more reserved, or careful, around my friends of other ethnicities. It wasn’t until when my uncle married my aunt-in-law, who is caucasian, that my grandparents began to be more accepting and open. After watching this movie and thinking back about this, I think that even though assimilation is difficult to me being accepting is even harder, especially when such a deep history is being involved. For the character Jay, Mina’s father, the relocation to him wasn’t just a political inequality but a personal injustice. Throughout the movie, he thought of Uganda as his true home and dreamed of going back, similarly to a lot of immigrants who had to relocate because of warfare or the oppressive government of their country. Because of this, I think it had prevented Jay from assimilating into the new culture and from being more accepting toward the black community because to him, it was “them” who had driven him away from his home.