MSNBC host on MLK Day: “Move beyond hashtag activism.”

Tiffany D. Cross, host of “The Cross Connection” on MSNBC, appeared during Rowan University’s 36^th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast & Day of Service Jan. 17 with a very clear message: be proactive about democracy.

The program was initially planned as an in-person event but moved to a virtual format in response to the worsening Covid crisis. Cross had been scheduled to delivered a keynote address during the popular breakfast and scholarship fundraiser but instead spoke about such issues as voting rights and activism in an interview with 6ABC Action News anchor Rick Williams, the master of ceremonies.

Cross, a 2020 fellow at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics at Harvard University, urged Americans, especially young Americans, to get involved in matters that are important to them, particularly voting rights.

Questioned by Williams about how to keep young people optimistic about their right to vote, especially in light of dozens of states passing laws that voting rights advocates consider restrictive, Cross urged viewers to do more than just tweet out opposition.

“This is a young people’s movement, this is a country they can shape, (but) we need to move beyond hashtag activism,” she said.

Cross, a former community activist and political campaign veteran, said despite the current divide in Congress over proposed voting rights legislation, there is much voters can do to help safeguard democracy. For example, she said, they can take part in voter registration drives, get involved in campaign work, run for office themselves.

Importantly, she noted, many who would seek to limit the right to vote do so at the grassroots level, and those who want to expand voting rights should do so too.

The program, held annually to celebrate King’s life, legacy and leadership, supports students by raising money for the William H. Myers Memorial Scholarship Program.

Appearing virtually in addition to Cross were U.S. Senator Cory Booker and Congressman Donald Norcross.

Booker said a recent spate of voting laws at the state and local levels do, in fact, restrict the right to vote and “disproportionately affect people of color.”

“Democracies are not inevitable, not secure, unless every generation works to secure that democracy, and we have to do that work right now,” he said.

Concluding, Cross said Americans must not be complacent, especially if they believe that their right to vote is under attack.

“I do understand that there are those days when you have a heavy spirit but it really is up to us to (peacefully) get in this fight,” she said. “Please take up your role in preserving American democracy.”