Celebrating Resilience: The We Reign Black Girl Block Party

Imagine you walk by the most frequented park in your neighborhood and hear Beyoncé’s voice singing, “Brown skin girl, your skin just like pearls, the best thing in the world,” as you move through your neighborhood walk. You look up to see your neighborhood park filled with Black children running around, laughter and smiles coming from people who seem to be part of your community, people huddled around tables listening intently, and someone handing out sandwiches and water to those who walk by.

On Oct. 26, 2024, that was the scene at Malcolm X Park in West Philly. For the second year in a row, the Philly-based nonprofit organization We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. held its Black Girl Block Party.We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. began in 2018, and R.E.I.G.N. stands for Rooting Empowering Inspiring a Girl’s Nation. The organization supports Black girls from Philadelphia and the surrounding areas in becoming activists, advocates, and organizers for their communities by teaching them about the importance and power of being civically engaged.

The Black Girl Block Party was an idea that came up about two and a half years ago when the participants of the We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. summer internship decided they wanted to have a block party to share information about how things across the city are impacting them and their neighborhoods, what it means to celebrate Black girlhood by acknowledging those issues, and how they would like to see their local legislators make changes so their communities could become supportive spaces. Another large component of the event is inviting community organizations to come face-to-face with the people they aim to support and share free resources and information directly with them. The participants thought long and hard about ways they remembered seeing their communities gather as they grew up, and they found a direct connection between community, togetherness, and support and hosting a block party.

One intern said, “I remember growing up, going to block parties and having so much fun at them. There was always food and music and it just made sense that this is how we can make sharing all of the stuff we learned more fun for people to hear.”

This year, the Black Girl Block Party looked pretty similar to last year but with the additional twist of intensity — some might call it anxiety — of a presidential election swirling around the atmosphere. The event featured incredible research done by the We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. internship participants to share the views of the current officials on the ballot across the state of Pennsylvania. The participants created various pamphlets, handouts, and one-pagers focused on educating people about different levels of Pennsylvania's government in support of their continued campaign, aptly titled #Vote4BlackGirls, which involves educating people about who their legislators are and urging people to vote for legislators who value Black girls and their specific needs. This campaign is directly connected to the We R.E.I.G.N. Philly Black Girl Agenda, an initiative that the organization has been building over the past six years through the internship experience of researching issues within their communities.

When asked about the importance of being civically engaged and pushing people to be more cognizant of local politics, Dr. Tawanna Jones, executive director of We R.E.I.G.N. Inc., said, “Teaching people about the importance of voting has to start before they turn 18 and are able to vote for the first time, which means we have to teach children about the importance of what it means to vote and why we do it. I also strongly believe that the main reason people don’t vote is because they don’t understand how government works. At We R.E.I.G.N. Inc., we understand how empowering it can be to look around your community and say, ‘I don’t really like what’s going on here, but I do know exactly how to find out who to talk to so that things can start to be different.’”

Dr. Jones makes a great point about the significance of supporting youth in becoming active members of society by showing them the value of using their voice. Childhood in its own right should be a time of learning and discovering who you want to be and what type of person you want to be in the world. We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. has decided that it looks like empowering Black girls to reflect on their lived experiences and then brainstorm about how those things can change so they can gain agency in a world that too often silences and ignores them.

The We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. Black Girl Block Party is a visual representation of how resilience meets joy, which is the classic story of what it means to be a Black American. The internship participants, while reflecting on the improvements that need to be made in their communities and deciding that while things may be difficult, disproportionate, devastating, and even heartbreaking, have this immense need to center joy in their lives. The juxtaposition of the internship participants sharing incredibly serious information and findings with the backdrop of a block party where people gather for fun, food, dancing, and community is a testament to the hope these Black girls have within them.

So next October, when the air gets a little crisp and you start thinking about ways you can further support your community, consider attending the We R.E.I.G.N. Inc. Black Girl Block Party to absorb a little joy, leave a little support, and remember that in a world that so often pushes misery as the standard, it’s our right to choose to center joy when we can.

To learn more about We R.E.I.G.N. Inc., their upcoming mentorships for middle school girls, internships for high school girls, and community events, follow them on Instagram or TikTok at @we.reign or visit their website at wereign.net.