“If I’m going to claim this part of my identity, I want to do the work to spread awareness and create a better world.”
Janae is a 20 year old self-described “plant nerd” from Illinois. Other than working with plants professionally, Janae is also a music-lover and community organizer with Anakbayan-Portland.
In her stories, Janae reflects on the impact of the Anti-Terror Law on environmental defenders in the Philippines and on the impact she felt after watching Filipino-American organizers speak at the 2020 Climate Strike in Portland.
“Why does it have to take 20,000 people to get noticed?”
Jennifer is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College and a community organizer with Anakbayan-Portland. She grew up in Hawaii, and was born to a mixed-race family. Jennifer enjoys art, playing Animal Crossing, and making coffee at her past jobs as a barista.
In her stories, Jennifer reflects on a time she testified in Portland against U.S. military aid to the Philippines, and explains how her Filipino-American identity motivated her to organize on issues impacting the Philippines.
“Being Filipino-American meant I was in a political fight.”
Trisha is a dancer and graduate student studying Mental Health Counseling and Dance Movement Therapy. She was born in the Philippines to an Ilocano family before immigrating to Alaska, where she grew up.
In her story, Trisha discusses when she listened to and rallied against human rights abuses against people in the Philippines while attending a conference in D.C. through the Portland Committee for Human Rights and GABRIELA Portland.
About the Artist
Tasha Elizarde is a Filipina from Tlingit & Haida lands known as Juneau, Alaska, and a student at Mount Holyoke College studying History, Business, and Asian Pacific American Studies. She is a growing artist utilizing photography to explore and critique legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and racism. Tasha also engages in portrait photography and multimedia art. Follow her photography @tasha.e.photography on Instagram.