Jackson Espiritu on Anti-Racism and Decolonization
Meet Jackson Espiritu
Interviewer: Can you tell me about your work in anti-racism and decolonization?
“My name is Jackson Espiritu. I was born and raised in Canada, and I identify as a Filipino Canadian. To me, representing my Filipino community is very important. The Filipino community is tied to my family and my values. My Filipino culture and my family values influence me to do social justice work as a social worker.
I remember visiting the Philippines back in 2008 to visit family, and I connected with them and witnessed how they live. Social justice values were always there for me, and they were amplified during that trip and made me move in this direction. At a young age, I was socially aware as early as junior high and high school. I noticed things within my community surrounding anti-Black racism at the time. Anti-Black racism is prevalent in the Filipino community and the culture. As a youth, I didn’t have the language to name the issues I noticed within my community.
I knew that Spain and the U.S. colonized the Philippines, but I just did not realize how much it impacted my family. Colonialism is intergenerational; people passed down racist attitudes for many generations. I had to reflect on that, and when I went to school to become a social worker, I was given the right language and learned about decolonization. I learned colonialization's impact on indigenous people on Turtle Island and the indigenous experience in residential schools. The colonization of Indigenous people in Canada paralleled the colonization of the Philippines.
Learning about colonization made me active in addressing those issues in the community. I try very hard to take a decolonization approach with my social work practice and not just for social work but in everyday life as well. I pick and choose who I have these conversations with and I have discussions with my family and friends. I try to be more subtle about it and try to plant seeds, so people will be more open to having conversations that address the issues.”
Note, the interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.