In the volatile era of Donald Trump and the transparency created by the digital age, a lot of us find ourselves on different sides of social and political issues than some of the people we love.

I grew up in eastern North Carolina among conservative farmers, but as a filmmaker, most of my colleagues are liberal artists, so I have friends and family on both sides. At best, Ive seen numerous friends have to unfollow their family members on social media because they couldnt stand reading their political posts or comments, and at worst, theyve stopped talking to them altogether.

I couldnt have that happen to my family, but I was in my first interracial relationship and my mom was struggling to accept it.