Join us for our March SECOND THURSDAYS virtual gathering. This month, we welcome Linda Taliaferro of The Sinclair and The H3irloom Food Group as our host. Our next SECOND THURSDAYS also celebrates Women's History Month.

ABOUT OUR HOST
Linda Taliaferro is one of the founders of The Maesner Group, which oversees a portfolio of business investments and developments in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area. She currently serves as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of The H3irloom Food Group with renowned chefs, David and Tonya Thomas. Linda started out as a satellite radio systems administrator and voice-over talent before starting a career in education. Her time was spent primarily working in Baltimore City Public Schools having served as the district’s Elementary Mathematics Coordinator and Coordinator of Elementary School Transformation and Turnaround. She then branched off into consulting, working for the Charles A. Dana Center of the University of Texas at Austin. It was during her time there that she led the implementation of a large-scale standards project for the United States’ Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). In this role, Linda traveled around the world to U.S. military bases organizing, meeting, and coaching teachers and principals. In 2019, Linda transitioned from her education work to place more focus on the business developments of The Maesner Group—which includes a newly renovated event venue named The Sinclair which is located in East Baltimore and slated to open late Spring 2021.

Though originally from North Carolina, Linda considers Baltimore her hometown since moving there as a teenager. She attended and graduated from both Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University. She currently lives with her husband and business partner, Floyd Taliaferro IV, their three children, and a scrappy pit bull named Ricky.

ABOUT SECOND THURSDAYS
SECOND THURSDAYS is a space for Asian Americans in the Baltimore region to build community. The monthly gathering is also a space for Asian Americans to learn, share, and unpack concerns with fellow Asian Americans.

Click the button below to register for the event and to receive the Zoom details.

NAAAP issued the following statement to amplify the demands of many national and local organizations to stop anti-Asian violence. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: pr@naaap.org

February 11, 2021

Atlanta, GA —The National Association of Asian American Professionals unequivocally condemns the recent unprovoked attacks on elderly Asian Americans, bullying of youth in K-12 and higher education, and the escalating anti-Asian discrimination since the start of the pandemic. We want to express our sympathy to all who have suffered racist and xenophobic acts, and the fear, frustration, or injustice that surround them.

In just the past few weeks, the Asian American community has learned of the death of Vicha Ratanapakdee, a 84-year old Thai-American in San Francisco who was violently shoved to the ground, a public assault of a 61-year old Filipino-American man, Noel Quintana, during his commute to work on the New York City subway, and several  other examples of attacks which have happened since the beginning of the pandemic.

These incidents are tragic and heartbreaking, but they are not new. They are the result of the hostile, xenophobic climate created by scapegoating Asian communities for the pandemic and the product of decades of systematic neglect and structural racism. Our elders are vulnerable and isolated by poverty, gentrification, housing instability, and the lack of in-language, culturally sensitive resources. Perpetrators of all ages and races are cowards for targeting elders and need to be brought to justice.

NAAAP leaders will not be silent bystanders to hate crimes.  While NAAAP’s primary mission centers around leadership and professional excellence, those tenets of our mission implies speaking out for the safety and well being of our members,  families, friends and loved ones, and standing up for visibility, inclusion, and justice.

NAAAP encourages the Federal, state and local authorities, the media, and all organizations, and especially members of our own community to be proactive and vocal with Asian experiences, stories, and conversations. The longer our community chooses to remain silent and invisible, the longer these acts of racism and violence will continue to be normalized, which is unacceptable.

We also recognize that the pain and loss that Asian Americans are experiencing is not isolated from the suffering of other communities of color. We must proactively work together towards finding justice for members of all communities, while coming together to act as a unified, humane people.

RESOURCES:

• Report a hate crime with the Asian Americans Advancing Justice: https://www.standagainsthatred.org/
• Report an anti-Asian hate crime in English or Asian language: https://stopaapihate.org/
• Legal resources for victims of hate crime by National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• Organize in your community OCA’s Hate Crime Community Resource Guide
• Bystander Intervention Training (free)

News coverage of anti-Asian incidents

• Oct. 8, 2020 CBS video story “How Asian Americans are fighting racism and bias in 2020 (27 min)“