The article under consideration is titled “How Mississippi Masala Can Teach Us to Be Better to Each Other”. The first impression that one gets when reading the article is that racism is a reality in America that won’t go away just any soon despite the concerted efforts by various activists to eliminate the vice. One of the vocal figures in this campaign to curb racial discrimination is M.I.A who features as an Asian woman going through the same experiences that Blacks go through. Furthermore, the racism depicted in the article is seen as a deeply entrenched element in the society such that eliminating it will require greater efforts. For instance, M.I.A is being criticized for thinking that by merely associating with the Blacks as a show of solidarity, she is sending a strong message out there that people should shun racism but in real sense, she forgets to look into the real root causes of racism and the prejudices that underlie racism and the anti-Black attitude that contributes to it.

It therefore leads to the impression that ant-racism campaigns will need to take a different approach that merely advocating against it in public platforms. In my view, it may be necessary that the prejudices be addressed through civic education and empowering the Blacks to enable them prove their potential so that they can earn respect from the other races as this would help reduce the kind of inferiority feeling that they are given by other races. It is also important to enlighten the people on the need for cohesive coexistence, emphasizing that the races need each other to survive. The efforts by Jammubhai, the Indian motel owner should also be encouraged as she carries out her enlightenment campaigns which depict the different races: Black, yellow, brown, Mexican, and Puerto Rican as equal and must stick together and cooperate on different fronts. The article, which mainly talks about “Mississippi Masala” movie also gives the impression that beyond the underlying prejudices, interracial relationships are important to be established and the different races have a role to play in such relationships. This can be demonstrated from the fact that Demetrius owns a carpet-cleaning business though he is a Black. He was given a contract to clean the carpet in the motel owned by Jammubbhai. His truck had been repaired by an Indian girl called Mina. This shows the interracial relationship between the Blacks and the Indians which also leads to business relationships for the benefit of both races.

However, I get the impression that despite the need for peaceful co-existence between the races, the South Asians seem not be genuine in their solidarity with the Blacks because they are in it for personal gains. It is a kind of cosmetic solidarity which the South Asians exhibit with the sole aim of ensuring that there is no tension between them. In contrast to the public display of solidarity, an Indian family would have trouble marrying their daughter or son to a Black family. This is quite paradoxical in the sense that having stood by the Blacks in show of solidarity, one would expect the Indians to easily embrace the Blacks to an extent of supporting intermarriages that would cement the relationships that they have but as depicted, Mina (an Indian) falls in love with Demetrius (Black American) but the Indian family of Mina was reluctant to sanction the marriage of their daughter to a Black American which exposed the deep-seated prejudices that exist between the races despite public show of solidarity. It also creates the impression that such solidarity was motivated by circumstances since they were also being discriminated against by the Whites who considered themselves superior to other races.

Reference

Sen, M. (2016). How Mississippi Masala can Teach us To Be Better To Each Other. Retrieved October 20, 2016 from: http://www.thefader.com/2016/09/16/mississippi-masala-mira-nair-denzel-washington