Melissa Tizon, the wife of the late Filipino-American journalist Alex Tizon, spoke out after her family drew a backlash after her husband’s article ‘My Family’s Slave’ went viral earlier this week.

The article, published in The Atlantic after Alex’s passing, describes the life of Eudocia Tomas Pulido, a distant relative who came to live with the author’s family in the US to work as a household helper without pay for decades.

Netizens all over the world have since debated on the author’s use of the word ‘slavery.’

Some have even called for the author’s surviving family to pay reparations to the late Pulido. In an interview with Seattle-based radio station K-UOW, Tizon’s wife said slavery was accurate.

“I don’t see it as romanticizing because, I mean slavery is the most inflammatory word that you could use to describe a situation, but it’s also the most accurate word,” she said. “After really looking back at the relationship and the way that she was treated, that is the most accurate word.”

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