In honor of Filipino American History Month, we'd like to celebrate 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa, the first Filipino American to be bestowed that honor.
Ressa was one of Time magazine's people of the year in 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 and she recently received an inaugural Albie Award from George and Amal Clooney's foundation.
When asked what this has all meant to her, specifically as a Filipina American, she simply said she's just doing her job. "In many ways, this time period for all of the attacks on identity that has happened in the United States also forces Filipino Americans to step forward and to claim it, to strengthen it," she said."We’re different, we’re unique, part of both worlds, sometimes part of neither."
"I think that the mission of journalism has never been as important as it is today, when facts are under attack, when there is no shared reality, when the fabric of democracy is crumbling, when people aren’t listening," she continued."How do you hold power to account?"