Cross-cultural mentoring relationships can be sites of struggle around the issues of race, class and gender. In addition, the mentor/protege relationship offers micro-cosmic insight into power relations within western society. The authors of this paper, a black woman associate professor and a white male professor, use the example of their mentoring relationship to illustrate six common issues facing academicians involved in these relationships: (1) trust between mentor and protege; (2) acknowledged and unacknowledged racism; (3) visibility and risks pertinent to minority faculty; (4) power and paternalism; (5) benefits to mentor and protege; and (6) the double-edged sword of "otherness" in the academy. Literature is used for review and critique of mentoring in the academy while offering personal examples to illustrate the complexity and success of a 13-year mentoring relationship between a duo who began their association as teacher/student.