This story is published in partnership with SoJannelleTV, a magazine show about Filipinos in North AmericaAsia Jackson understood early on that her parents looked different from one another. What she didn’t understand until later on was what it would mean for her.
“I was like I don’t understand that because my dad’s African-American but my mom’s not. He didn’t mention that I was Asian. That was the first time that I realized the world would see me a certain way and it didn’t matter how I identified,” Jackson recalled, adding that the colorism didn’t end when she moved to Baguio City, Philippines. There, she was bullied for her darker skin color and the texture of her hair.
She also has her parents in her corner. Her father supports her projects, often showing her acting reel to people he meets, while her mother openly discusses issues like mental health. The biggest lesson her mother taught her was to be “unapologetically myself,” which her mother demonstrated by embracing her Igorot identity despite the stereotypes and misconceptions perpetuated about indigenous people.“I talk with my parents all the time about politics and social issues.