November 5, 2024 • 12 mins
Host Ramses J and cohost Q Ward continue their series profiling the distinguished ladies of the 2024 National Council of Negro Women. Today's guest is Ms.Thayla Baptiste, undergraduate student at Morgan State University and panelist at this year's NCNW Conference
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to our special series Distinguished Ladies of the NCNW
here on the Black Information Network. Recently, myself, Rams's Jaw
and q Ward made our way to Baltimore for the
sixty first Annual Convention of the National Council of Negro
Women and were able to have some meaningful conversations with
some of the most powerful and influential Black women in America.
(00:20):
We discuss politics, education, healthcare, economics, and everything in between.
So sit back and enjoy today's episode of the Distinguished
Ladies of the NCNW here on the Black Information Network.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We are still live from the NCNW National Convention in Baltimore, Maryland,
where the theme is Our Voice, Our Power, Our Future Together.
We are here now with a very dynamic young lady.
We could tell from the gravity she brought with her
(00:54):
when she walked into this space absolutely that we were
sitting down with someone special. Talia about Tiste is a
student at Morgan State University and a panelist on the NCNW.
From my perspective, panel an intergenerational conversation of Black women
from diverse social and political perspectives, and she represents, in
(01:17):
my opinion, our most intellectually diverse, our most active our
most ideologically diverse generation, and a generation that Ramses and
I have said over and over again does not get
(01:40):
messaged to enough, is not engaged enough. We see that
they have the excitement, we see that they have the
know how and then want to, but they need the
guidance and the instruction as well, and that is gen Z.
Thank you for spending a few minutes and taking some
time from what I know is a busy schedule to
(02:02):
sit down.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
With us today.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Of course, so I want to start this conversation very straightforwardly.
Ramses and I try to appear as young people. We
will not talk about our birthdays on the show, but
thank you so.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Much, it's your birthday today.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
But we have again this is not performative. We have
now for some time, had this conversation about the messaging
that's required to reach our younger, more talented, more brilliant generation.
And that's gen Z. As a member of that generation,
give us and the listeners some advice on the type
(02:48):
of things that are important to you and the type
of things that got you to this point where you're
as engaged as you are.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, of course, I mean to keep it simple. Really,
I just feel like everything is important, honestly, like from education, food,
things about like I don't know, like just everything. I'm
the child of two immigrants, so my mother especially, she
will not stop saying something until she's certain that it's
(03:17):
absolutely drilled into your head. And so I believe that
is why I am the way I am and why
I am so big on sharing with the youth the
recipes that our great legacies and icons have come before
us use when they were fighting the same battles that
(03:37):
we see gen z as fighting right now. And so
even if it's a little stories, because like I said,
I'm the child of the two immigrants and a majority
of my family is still back home in Chrinado, Tobago,
and I had the opportunity to visit them this summer,
especially my grandmother, and she shared with me the tiniest
bit of stories about things that she used to do
when she was young, and at the time she probably
(03:58):
didn't think that it was instilling in me the motivation
and drive that it did, but it did. And so
I feel like those little stories, even about the things
that you did and what you went through and what
your day looks like when you were my age, those
are so important to us, and so I feel like
we need to start with that, even if it's like
I said about food recipes and things like that that
(04:20):
needs to be passed down. We have got to start
with the little things first and then we can reach
with the big lessons and story times that are so
essential to bringing up and raising the youth of today.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So we were able to hear the response of the
crowd to you know, your panel, and that was for you.
It was tremendous and thunderous. We could hear people roaring
and cheering. Talk to us a little bit about what
(04:52):
it is that you were saying and why you believe
what you were saying resonated with the crowd here on
the ground today.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Well, I was I was just sorry, okay. I was
saying basically kind of like what I was talking about earlier,
that our youth, you know, we're losing recipes. We have
got to start passing down the essential recipes to our youth.
And we have to stop believing that students like myself
or even people that are younger me don't have anything
(05:21):
to say, because we have a lot to say. We
have a lot of opinions, we have a lot of
thoughts and we want to share them. So that was
a little bit about what I was saying. And I
think that the thunderous applause was so large or was
what it was because people want to see youth in
these spaces. It's not like, you know, people are keeping
(05:43):
them away or anything like that. I think people want
to see youth in these spaces. We just have to
give them the opportunity to talk and to be in
these spaces. We have to give them the actual space
to do so, even if that means financial help and
support and things like that. Youth want to organize and
we want to be here, and I think people know
that as well, which is why they were so happy
(06:03):
to see someone my age talking and being on the stage.
It's just a matter of getting out that message and
being able to reach youth and not just you know,
your family members, not just your little brother or sister, niece, nephew,
but that one kid on the block that you see
walking home from school every Tuesday, like everybody, all the youth.
We can't leave anyone behind. So I feel like people
know that, and I think that they were just kind
(06:25):
of waiting for somebody my age to say it. But
I'm saying it now, So I hope that everybody got
the message.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
If my voice didn't matter, people wouldn't be trying so
hard to silence me, and if my vote didn't matter,
they wouldn't work so hard to take it away. So
you know why I'm voting this November because I know
they don't want me to.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Your voice is powerful, your voice matters. Don't let your
voice be silenced. To register, confirm your voting status, or
get information about voting in your area, visit vote dot gov.
That's vote dot goov, a message from the Perception Institute
and the Black Information Network.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I get chills when someone articulates something that I've been
trying to figure out how to say so succinctly. We
need to pass down recipes, like there's this gatekeeping tradition
that we have where our youth aren't ready yet and
we end up holding on to the reins for too
long when we have dynamic leaders like yourself who we
(07:22):
should be passing those recipes and that access and that capital.
Remember she said that part too. Some money, not just instructions,
but let's help them get where they're going. So thank
you so much for saying that, Because this is why
we need to hear from you. We can surmise and
go back and forth all we want about the best
way to communicate that, but the way that you just
(07:43):
did it. I got chills sitting here listening to you
because you articulated that so masterfully. My call to everyone
that we've spoken to since we've been here, if there's
something that you could tell us to do in action,
because we're all excited if we want this momentum to
turn into something. What's actionable step or what, as our
former first lady would say, do something. What is it
(08:06):
that you would have us or even you know, members
of your generation to do from this moment that would
be impactful.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, I'm gonna start small, and I think the simplest
thing that came to mind when you asked the question
was read a book. Get a book one of my favorites,
Say her Name by Kimberly Crenshaw, who I also had
the pleasure of working with this past summer. Just any
book that is about our history, the history of our people,
especially if it's by a black author, and actually only
(08:33):
if it's by a black author, Get a book, read it,
and then after you're done reading it and analyzing it,
pass it down to someone younger than you, and make
sure that they pass it down to someone younger, and
keep the cycle going. And after you finish that book,
don't stop there. Get another book, and get another one,
and get another one, and keep reading and be able
to articulate what you're reading and spread it to the masses.
(08:55):
And yeah, it's real simple. Start reading, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I like that. I've given that advice a few times
in my career, so I know the value of that
all too well. I want to ask you something, and
this is something that we've danced around quite a bit.
I'm interested in getting your take on it for your generation.
(09:19):
What would you say is the better motivator? You know,
we're seeing we're talking about messaging to gen Z's, right,
And I know there are some people who really, really
sincerely care about gen zs Dr Westenberg comes to out.
Doctor Westberg's a friend of ours. These are people on
the ground, in real communities across the country who really
(09:41):
care about registering young people to vote, getting them engaged, etc. Right,
what would you say motivates gen Z's Is it fear
of what could go wrong? Or is it the possibility
of what could happen that would benefit what could go
right right, So again, right now, there's a lot of
(10:03):
messaging that says, you know, if you don't vote, everything
bad's going to happen. And there's some messaging that says,
if you want these things to happen, vote this way.
What do you think appeals more to folks of your generation.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I think that's hard. I think it definitely in a
way kind of goes back to intersectionality and what a
specific person is dealing with. But overwhelmingly what I see,
especially like on my campus. I go to HBCU, so
I'm surrounded by people that look like me every single day.
And I think something that's really big for us is hope.
(10:37):
And I think that a lot of the people, a
lot of the student organizations I see, and the people
that are seeing that I see that are rallying people
to register to vote and sending those mail in ballots
and everything like that, I think they are motivated motivated
by hope. I think we've been in a state for
too long, especially after COVID, where we're we're seeing black
(11:00):
and brown bodies brutalized, and I think we got really
tired of that. Gen Z, especially because like you guys said,
we're active. We like to be in the streets, we
like to be doing stuff. And so I think that
now that we're finally kind of like back, like full
circle from COVID, I think that we're motivated by hope,
the hope to keep going and to you know, stop
that from happening, and the hope that this will not
(11:22):
continue to happen for our younger brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So I'm blown away by you. I just met you today.
I'm floored. I have been inspired and educated by this conversation.
We cannot monopolize your time and keep you all day,
So thank you for making time for us, for sharing
this space, and for teaching your brothers how to be
(11:48):
better support for you. We are here again with Talia Baptiste,
n CNW member and panelist and HBCU student at Morgan
State University in Baltimore, Maryland. And if people want to
keep up with you or follow you, social media website
will be the best way for people to keep tapped
in with you.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I mostly use Instagram, so you can follow me on Instagram.
It is my first name. So t H A l
Ya period NB and then I'm also on LinkedIn and
it's my full name, Talia Baptiste.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
All right, thank you again, and we're looking forward to
watching whatever it is that you're going to do next.
Thank you for spending some time with us.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Be sure to check back for additional episodes right here
on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
Welcome to our special series Distinguished Ladies of the NCNW
here on the Black Information Network. Recently, myself, Rams's Jaw
and q Ward made our way to Baltimore for the
sixty first Annual Convention of the National Council of Negro
Women and were able to have some meaningful conversations with
some of the most powerful and influential Black women in America.
(00:20):
We discuss politics, education, healthcare, economics, and everything in between.
So sit back and enjoy today's episode of the Distinguished
Ladies of the NCNW here on the Black Information Network.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We are still live from the NCNW National Convention in Baltimore, Maryland,
where the theme is Our Voice, Our Power, Our Future Together.
We are here now with a very dynamic young lady.
We could tell from the gravity she brought with her
(00:54):
when she walked into this space absolutely that we were
sitting down with someone special. Talia about Tiste is a
student at Morgan State University and a panelist on the NCNW.
From my perspective, panel an intergenerational conversation of Black women
from diverse social and political perspectives, and she represents, in
(01:17):
my opinion, our most intellectually diverse, our most active our
most ideologically diverse generation, and a generation that Ramses and
I have said over and over again does not get
(01:40):
messaged to enough, is not engaged enough. We see that
they have the excitement, we see that they have the
know how and then want to, but they need the
guidance and the instruction as well, and that is gen Z.
Thank you for spending a few minutes and taking some
time from what I know is a busy schedule to
(02:02):
sit down.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
With us today.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Of course, so I want to start this conversation very straightforwardly.
Ramses and I try to appear as young people. We
will not talk about our birthdays on the show, but
thank you so.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Much, it's your birthday today.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
But we have again this is not performative. We have
now for some time, had this conversation about the messaging
that's required to reach our younger, more talented, more brilliant generation.
And that's gen Z. As a member of that generation,
give us and the listeners some advice on the type
(02:48):
of things that are important to you and the type
of things that got you to this point where you're
as engaged as you are.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, of course, I mean to keep it simple. Really,
I just feel like everything is important, honestly, like from education, food,
things about like I don't know, like just everything. I'm
the child of two immigrants, so my mother especially, she
will not stop saying something until she's certain that it's
(03:17):
absolutely drilled into your head. And so I believe that
is why I am the way I am and why
I am so big on sharing with the youth the
recipes that our great legacies and icons have come before
us use when they were fighting the same battles that
(03:37):
we see gen z as fighting right now. And so
even if it's a little stories, because like I said,
I'm the child of the two immigrants and a majority
of my family is still back home in Chrinado, Tobago,
and I had the opportunity to visit them this summer,
especially my grandmother, and she shared with me the tiniest
bit of stories about things that she used to do
when she was young, and at the time she probably
(03:58):
didn't think that it was instilling in me the motivation
and drive that it did, but it did. And so
I feel like those little stories, even about the things
that you did and what you went through and what
your day looks like when you were my age, those
are so important to us, and so I feel like
we need to start with that, even if it's like
I said about food recipes and things like that that
(04:20):
needs to be passed down. We have got to start
with the little things first and then we can reach
with the big lessons and story times that are so
essential to bringing up and raising the youth of today.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So we were able to hear the response of the
crowd to you know, your panel, and that was for you.
It was tremendous and thunderous. We could hear people roaring
and cheering. Talk to us a little bit about what
(04:52):
it is that you were saying and why you believe
what you were saying resonated with the crowd here on
the ground today.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Well, I was I was just sorry, okay. I was
saying basically kind of like what I was talking about earlier,
that our youth, you know, we're losing recipes. We have
got to start passing down the essential recipes to our youth.
And we have to stop believing that students like myself
or even people that are younger me don't have anything
(05:21):
to say, because we have a lot to say. We
have a lot of opinions, we have a lot of
thoughts and we want to share them. So that was
a little bit about what I was saying. And I
think that the thunderous applause was so large or was
what it was because people want to see youth in
these spaces. It's not like, you know, people are keeping
(05:43):
them away or anything like that. I think people want
to see youth in these spaces. We just have to
give them the opportunity to talk and to be in
these spaces. We have to give them the actual space
to do so, even if that means financial help and
support and things like that. Youth want to organize and
we want to be here, and I think people know
that as well, which is why they were so happy
(06:03):
to see someone my age talking and being on the stage.
It's just a matter of getting out that message and
being able to reach youth and not just you know,
your family members, not just your little brother or sister, niece, nephew,
but that one kid on the block that you see
walking home from school every Tuesday, like everybody, all the youth.
We can't leave anyone behind. So I feel like people
know that, and I think that they were just kind
(06:25):
of waiting for somebody my age to say it. But
I'm saying it now, So I hope that everybody got
the message.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
If my voice didn't matter, people wouldn't be trying so
hard to silence me, and if my vote didn't matter,
they wouldn't work so hard to take it away. So
you know why I'm voting this November because I know
they don't want me to.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Your voice is powerful, your voice matters. Don't let your
voice be silenced. To register, confirm your voting status, or
get information about voting in your area, visit vote dot gov.
That's vote dot goov, a message from the Perception Institute
and the Black Information Network.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I get chills when someone articulates something that I've been
trying to figure out how to say so succinctly. We
need to pass down recipes, like there's this gatekeeping tradition
that we have where our youth aren't ready yet and
we end up holding on to the reins for too
long when we have dynamic leaders like yourself who we
(07:22):
should be passing those recipes and that access and that capital.
Remember she said that part too. Some money, not just instructions,
but let's help them get where they're going. So thank
you so much for saying that, Because this is why
we need to hear from you. We can surmise and
go back and forth all we want about the best
way to communicate that, but the way that you just
(07:43):
did it. I got chills sitting here listening to you
because you articulated that so masterfully. My call to everyone
that we've spoken to since we've been here, if there's
something that you could tell us to do in action,
because we're all excited if we want this momentum to
turn into something. What's actionable step or what, as our
former first lady would say, do something. What is it
(08:06):
that you would have us or even you know, members
of your generation to do from this moment that would
be impactful.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, I'm gonna start small, and I think the simplest
thing that came to mind when you asked the question
was read a book. Get a book one of my favorites,
Say her Name by Kimberly Crenshaw, who I also had
the pleasure of working with this past summer. Just any
book that is about our history, the history of our people,
especially if it's by a black author, and actually only
(08:33):
if it's by a black author, Get a book, read it,
and then after you're done reading it and analyzing it,
pass it down to someone younger than you, and make
sure that they pass it down to someone younger, and
keep the cycle going. And after you finish that book,
don't stop there. Get another book, and get another one,
and get another one, and keep reading and be able
to articulate what you're reading and spread it to the masses.
(08:55):
And yeah, it's real simple. Start reading, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I like that. I've given that advice a few times
in my career, so I know the value of that
all too well. I want to ask you something, and
this is something that we've danced around quite a bit.
I'm interested in getting your take on it for your generation.
(09:19):
What would you say is the better motivator? You know,
we're seeing we're talking about messaging to gen Z's, right,
And I know there are some people who really, really
sincerely care about gen zs Dr Westenberg comes to out.
Doctor Westberg's a friend of ours. These are people on
the ground, in real communities across the country who really
(09:41):
care about registering young people to vote, getting them engaged, etc. Right,
what would you say motivates gen Z's Is it fear
of what could go wrong? Or is it the possibility
of what could happen that would benefit what could go
right right, So again, right now, there's a lot of
(10:03):
messaging that says, you know, if you don't vote, everything
bad's going to happen. And there's some messaging that says,
if you want these things to happen, vote this way.
What do you think appeals more to folks of your generation.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I think that's hard. I think it definitely in a
way kind of goes back to intersectionality and what a
specific person is dealing with. But overwhelmingly what I see,
especially like on my campus. I go to HBCU, so
I'm surrounded by people that look like me every single day.
And I think something that's really big for us is hope.
(10:37):
And I think that a lot of the people, a
lot of the student organizations I see, and the people
that are seeing that I see that are rallying people
to register to vote and sending those mail in ballots
and everything like that, I think they are motivated motivated
by hope. I think we've been in a state for
too long, especially after COVID, where we're we're seeing black
(11:00):
and brown bodies brutalized, and I think we got really
tired of that. Gen Z, especially because like you guys said,
we're active. We like to be in the streets, we
like to be doing stuff. And so I think that
now that we're finally kind of like back, like full
circle from COVID, I think that we're motivated by hope,
the hope to keep going and to you know, stop
that from happening, and the hope that this will not
(11:22):
continue to happen for our younger brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So I'm blown away by you. I just met you today.
I'm floored. I have been inspired and educated by this conversation.
We cannot monopolize your time and keep you all day,
So thank you for making time for us, for sharing
this space, and for teaching your brothers how to be
(11:48):
better support for you. We are here again with Talia Baptiste,
n CNW member and panelist and HBCU student at Morgan
State University in Baltimore, Maryland. And if people want to
keep up with you or follow you, social media website
will be the best way for people to keep tapped
in with you.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I mostly use Instagram, so you can follow me on Instagram.
It is my first name. So t H A l
Ya period NB and then I'm also on LinkedIn and
it's my full name, Talia Baptiste.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
All right, thank you again, and we're looking forward to
watching whatever it is that you're going to do next.
Thank you for spending some time with us.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Be sure to check back for additional episodes right here
on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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