SAY IT LOUDER!

Journalist and political analyst Cross, a resident fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute on Politics, mounts a convincing argument, warmly endorsed by Michael Eric Dyson, that democracy’s future depends on blacks’ participation in civic life. Democracy, she writes, “dies in whiteness,” notably the dominance of whites as reporters, talk show hosts, and news editors in all media—i.e., those who decide what news is disseminated and how issues are framed. In 2000, beginning as an entry-level journalist at CNN, Cross encountered both lack of diversity and hostility among her colleagues, even when she moved to the station’s D.C. location. Her dissatisfaction led her to create the The Beat DC, “a daily news platform at the intersection of politics, policy, and people of color.” By 2017, recruited back to CNN as an on-air analyst, Cross noticed some changes in diversity staffing—although women of color continue to be underrepresented—but not in the assumptions that shaped coverage. Besides recounting her own experiences in journalism (including makeup and hairstyling nightmares for TV appearances), the author discusses an eruption of violent racism following World War I, recent police brutality (the killings of Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and others), voter suppression (purging voters from rolls, redistricting, requiring felons to pay large fees before they can vote), the Georgia governor’s race between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp, and Kamala Harris’ campaign. Throughout, she highlights prevalent racist rhetoric from the GOP and others. “White supremacy,” she writes, “has always been America’s greatest weakness,” and she contends that Russian election interference targeted “toxic race relations” to convince black voters not to go to the polls. Contending that there is no such thing as “the Black vote,” Cross urges readers to become informed and engaged.

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