By Marva J. Sneed
Staff Writer
The Authors Roundtable was presented by Ed Gordon Media and the NAACP with Gordon was the moderator and the authors were: Tiffany Cross (Say it Louder!), comedian D.L. Hughley (Surrender White People), Loni Love (I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have To), Bakari Sellers (My Vanishing Country), and President & CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson.
President Johnson spoke on voting. As he discussed the upcoming election, he talked about moving from power at the voting booth to policy change. “Voting is so important if we don’t vote we can’t complain. To make a change you must vote. Without it, we get the same thing.”
Love spoke about the protests and said they give everyone hope. “The protests and the Blackout Tuesday made corporations make changes in the way they do business.”
Sellers said, “We need to take care of our own before we go out to others.”
Tiffany Cross said, “We cannot operate in a place of fear.”
“Who should tell our stories,” D.L. Hughley asked, “We don’t need other people to tell our stories, we just need to be clear about telling them.”
In closing, Johnson left a strong message, “We settle our differences at the ballot box. Please get out and vote.”
