Melissa really likes Jamie--they get along well and they seem to understand each other. She calls him her 'Nature Sensei' because he teaches her about nature, and she is his 'Beauty Sensei' because she takes him to get his hair cut and teaches him how to dress properly. Their relationship could not be any better, until the issue of racism is brought in.
Julie has never really been around non-white people, and she has a lot to learn about other races. She still uses the term 'colored,' which gets Melissa very upset. She also does not understand why it's okay for black people to use the "N-word" and why it's not okay for white people. She knows she has a lot to learn, but she "feels cheated" that she has not experienced more of other races in her life. Melissa and Danny try to help her out by exposing her to different kinds of people, but there's only so much she can understand.
Meanwhile, Melissa has to fend for herself when, on a swamp boat tour with Julie, Jamie, and some of his friends from back home, the tour guide uses a few racial slurs that make her upset. The others, all white, at first laugh at the slurs, but Melissa is extremely upset, and why shouldn't she be? She then goes on to get angry at Jamie for not sympathizing with her. She is also angry at the fact that someone could be so ignorant as to even use words like that anymore. Jamie tells her that the tour guide probably didn't know better, and that he didn't mean to offend her. Melissa does not agree with Jamie's perspective on the issue, so she has a talk with him and works things out.
The moral of the story: Even though they come from two completely different backgrounds, they can still be friends.