Black Women New Jersey Promote Voter Registration Across Entire State
Black Women New Jersey Voter Registration week will run from Tuesday, September 17, 2024 – Sunday, September 22, 2024.
Black Women New Jersey, (BWNJ) an organization more than 15,000-strong across the state, will hold an entire week of voter registration events.
BWNJ Voter Registration week will run from Tuesday, September 17, 2024 – Sunday, September 22, 2024.
“We're organizing a massive effort to set up voter registration tables in every county across New Jersey,” Black Women New Jersey Founder Shanique Taliaferro, 42, of Trenton explained. “Whether it's at schools, churches, clubs, parks, offices, restaurants, buildings, or anywhere else, BWNJ is hitting the streets, and we need all hands-on deck.”
Stephenine Dixon, of Atlantic City, serves as the BWNJ Statewide Voter Registration Organizer. “The aim is to empower Black women by ensuring they are registered, informed and prepared to participate in the upcoming elections,” said Dixon. “We have the backing, the brilliance, the resilience and the grass-roots structure to get it done.”
The focus will be different for each day of the week, Dixon said. Tuesday, September 17, 2004, is National Voter Registration Day. Members are encouraged to set up tables in any high traffic areas such as malls and transportation hubs. On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, the focus will be on colleges. Members are asked to provide voter information forums that explain voting rights and participate in peer-to-peer sharing.
On Thursday, September 19, 2024, members will visit high schools to register young, first-time voters. On Friday, September 20, 2024, the focus will be on community outreach to canvas neighborhoods. On Saturday, September 21, 2024, members will visit senior centers and nursing homes to make sure older citizens know that they can still vote if they’re registered. And, on Sunday September 22, 2024, BWNJ will encourage members to reach out to the Black Church and have congregations make announcements about voter registration services in each community. “Some of our members are already starting,” Taliaferro said. “No one expected us to have a Black Woman running for office. We’re more of a social network. But because we have this, we want to get behind this.”
Both Taliaferro and Dixon stress, however, that the voter registration drive is non-partisan. But Dixon said Black women are one of the most important segments of the political process. “We’re instrumental in every political race,” Dixon said. Dixon represented Atlantic County in August, as a delegate for the Democratic National Convention, where Vice President Kamala Harris officially received the Democratic nomination to face Republican nominee, former President, Donald J. Trump, on November 5, 2024.
Mark Tyler
“I came back fired up," Dixon said. “I need to get people acclimated and get people fired up to get out and vote." Working with Taliaferro and Black Women New Jersey is a big part of that plan, in part, because Dixon is so proud of Taliaferro.
“She’s a young, Black woman. She’s doing big things. She’s just amazing,” Dixon said of Taliaferro.
The Black Women New Jersey Back Story
Taliaferro started Black Women New Jersey last year, in March, after seeking, but not finding, an online community of likeminded women.
“You, always hear, ‘We don’t celebrate each other. We don’t highlight the great qualities that we have, and you hear so many different negative things,” Taliaferro said. “I just don’t believe that so, I wanted to start a community to allow us to be authentically us.”
The impetus came from Taliaferro’s quest to rediscover herself.
“Somewhere down the line, I lost my identity,” Taliaferro said. “I have all these other roles, and I looked in the mirror and I said, ‘when did I forget to sow into me.’”
She started a Facebook group Black Women New Jersey to give Black women a place to celebrate themselves. The group does social meetups across the state. They have had beach days, movie nights, ice cream socials and various other self-care events. In fact, they hold an annual All-Woman Gala.
“Our mission is our name — Black Women New Jersey,” Taliaferro said. But it’s not just about trying to garner support for businesses or talk about what children are doing. “We don’t really stop and try to get to know each other,” Taliaferro said. “We don’t build relationships and, I was trying to get people to understand that if people have a relationship, then they will support your product.”
Once Black women began to understand it really was about them and not who they are in terms of the hats they wear, the group swelled exponentially.
“It started growing like a wildfire,” Taliaferro said. Their numbers jumped from have 10,000 to more than 16,000 in just the last month.
“I realized there are so many people who were feeling like me,” Taliaferro said. “Now that we know each other and we’ve built some really good connections, we can take on some issues.” Taliaferro said Black Women New Jersey is willing to partner with other organizations to do positive work in the community.
“I’m just out here trying to make a difference,” Taliaferro said. “We want whatever we’re doing to unite us, rather than separate us.”
To connect with Black Women New Jersey visit www.BlackWomennj.com and email BlackWomennj@gmail.com
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