• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK WOMEN COME FIRST

Every day we're serving Black women deeply. Come get a plate of goodness! Sign up for daily content and exclusive offers you'll love!

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and that you have read our Privacy Policy
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Tiffany D. Cross Is Ready To ‘Say It Louder’
By Yesha Callahan · Updated July 3, 2020
Home · In Her We Trust

Tiffany D. Cross Is Ready To 'Say It Louder'

By Yesha Callahan·Updated July 3, 2020
The political journalist, who is ready to tackle the publishing industry with her upcoming book Say It Louder, talks exclusively with ESSENCE about the upcoming election and her upcoming guest-hosting appearance on AM Joy.

After spending more than 20 years as a political journalist, Ohio-born and Atlanta raised Tiffany D. Cross will now conquer the publishing world with her debut book Say It Louder. Cross, the co-founder and former managing editor of The Beat DC, has gained a large following over the years since appearing on various cable news shows as a commentator, which has undoubtedly set the stage for her guest-hosting debut on AM Joy this weekend.

Cross, a Resident Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics (Spring 2020), recently sat down to discuss her new book with ESSENCE and the upcoming election.

ESSENCE: What are you covering in your book?

*Tiffany D. Cross: It’s about police brutality and unrest, the feminism movement, silencing Black women, the Kamala Harris campaign and the presidential election. And remember, I wrote this pre-George Floyd, pre-Ahmaud Arbery. I was writing this a year and a half ago. So it just so happened that the release of my book and the news cycle were running parallel, surprisingly, sadly and fortunately. Sadly because it’s awful that we’re here, but fortunate because this book was a love letter to Black people as the superheroes we are and have always been in this country.

ESSENCE: You just mentioned Kamala Harris, do you think she got the support she needed from the Black community?

Cross: I can’t say. I think Black voters have to decide for themselves who speaks to them. I don’t think Black people are obligated to support any candidate. And I think it’s a candidate’s responsibility to make their case to the community. And we’re not a homogenous group. People can make that choice for themselves. What I will say is that because the media controls so much of what the masses know and understand about politics, I don’t think the coverage on the Harris campaign was always fair. And I think that comes from the infrastructure of the business, the way it’s set up, but also from people not understanding the plight of Black women.

Tiffany D. Cross Is Ready To ‘Say It Louder’

I write about in the book there was a Washington Post reporter who was covering an event where AKAs were in attendance. And of course, they Skee-wee’d when she came out, and the reporter had no idea. He’s like, I didn’t expect to hear shrieking here. And people had to explain to her what was happening.

It highlighted how we have to understand everything about white America, but they don’t have to understand our world. And it’s excused and tolerated and it’s fine because in their eyes, we’re the other. And we don’t have that luxury. And so I think a lot of that impacted Senator Harris’s campaign when the media elevated her initially and the obligatory comparisons to Obama after her campaign launch. And then after that, it was hit piece after hit piece. And so you have a white-run media that’s creating this narrative that is influencing a predominantly white male donor class when it comes to investing in these campaigns. And that’s not to say that she didn’t run a flawed campaign, because I believe there were some areas where she fell short. But that makes her no different from the 44 white men who have gotten to be president.

Tiffany D. Cross Is Ready To ‘Say It Louder’

ESSENCE: And now the talk is Biden picking a woman of color for his VP pick. Who do you think he should pick?

Cross: Well, I obviously can’t endorse a VP pick, but I do think it should be a Black woman. I don’t know if you know, but I penned an op-ed for The Post with a group of other Black women in media. So it was me, Brittany Packnett, Angela Rye, Sunny Hostin, Amanda Seales and Alicia Garza. And our point in that op-ed was, help us help you. We are trying to usher you over this finish line. And when Black women organize, we don’t just organize ourselves. We organize the community. And the truth of the matter is that Joe Biden is not an exciting candidate. So he alone does not excite the base who he needs to motivate. And I think it’s a misunderstanding at times from people in his campaign who assume because he was Obama’s second in command that it guarantees him the Black vote. And even considering everything happening right now, even considering trying to unseat a white supremacist, I would leave nothing to chance because Black voters who resurrected this campaign are facing an unholy trinity of things that will suppress their vote come November.

ESSENCE: So one thing you’re venturing into soon, is guest hosting AM Joy this weekend. How did that come about?

Cross: So I appear regularly on AM Joy and I’m very connected with her audience and they’re very connected with me. I appear on the network frequently. I feel like the “Reiders,” [Joy Reid’s] audience, they’re like family to me. I’m in constant contact with them on Twitter, DM. They email my website. And she has built an incredible platform of over a million viewers who tune in for content that they are not getting anywhere else. And so because I have a journalism background and a campaign background just like Joy and she works really hard, it was a perfect time for me to step in and bring some of what I brought to my news platform, in terms of highlighting the intersection of politics, policy and people of color. And I’m very excited about the opportunity.

ESSENCE: Do you think this is something that could turn into a full-time spot?

Cross: Joy and I both have a political journalism background so I really appreciate what she has done with the show. She has built an amazing base of loyal viewers and I am fortunate enough to have connected with those viewers over the past couple of years. Joy will leave big shoes to fill for sure and I hope whomever the executives tap to take over has a strong connection with the audience, a passion for journalism, and a commitment to highlighting issues that impact communities of color.

ESSENCE: What is the biggest takeaway you want readers to have from your book?

Cross: Well, I think just recognizing the power and influence that both Black voters and the media have and the latter has, at times, aided in the suppression of the former. And so I would challenge people. While it was a love letter to Black people, I didn’t write it exclusively for Black people. I hope everyone will read it at this time when there’s a lot of curiosity about the Black American experience. And I would challenge people to name a time in this country that Black people have not disproportionately upheld this democracy. Name a war Black people didn’t fight in. Name any part of the economy that Black people didn’t contribute to, the wealth we created for this country, and have never benefit from.

Tiffany D. Cross’s book Say It Louder will be released on July 6, 2020.

*The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now