Mustafa Santiago Ali
Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali is the Executive Vice President of Conservation & Justice for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), former Interim Chief of Programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), and Instructor at American University. He is the Founder and CEO of Revitalization Strategies. He also serves as a commissioner for The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). He is an award-winning writer and poet focused on social justice. Dr. Ali is frequently seen on television, including appearances on MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, VICE, FUSE, BET, National Geographic, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Democracy NOW! Mustafa is also a regular guest on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Black News Channel, Tavis Smiley Show, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and many others…
Editor's Note: This poem is the 83rd in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems, interviews, short stories, and articles about political events
Our Black Joy bends light like gravity, pulls stars to kneel at our feet, makes the cosmos confess its envy— how we pulse, how we blaze, how we orbit no one but our own suns.
Do you see us? Miracle-born. Our smiles—wide as liberation, sharp as truth. Teeth like crescents splitting night open, a fracture where darkness spills out & light pours in.
We are architects of the unseen, conductors of frequencies they cannot tune. We hum joy into being, a sound that splits atoms, splits lies, splits every story they’ve tried to pin to our backs.
They call us too bright. Too much. Too loud. But how could the universe hide itself? How could the infinite bow small?
We laugh— the sound ripples through time. It erases fear. It rewrites silence. It is the loudest prayer this world has ever known.
Our Black Joy: a miracle, a law, a weapon. The light is us.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #Art #Cultura #ProudBlue #BlackJoy #Love