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 94th 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
tonight, the trees wear your face— bark turned bone, leaves turned whispers, a thousand unmarked tongues singing what the earth refused to forget.
who taught the ground to hold its breath? who taught history to bite its own tongue? you, who danced your last steps in chains, who poured yourself into unmarked graves, you, stolen, erased, but never undone.
tonight, the light knows your name. it climbs the branches, carves you whole, etches your sorrow into the air, makes the world remember what it chose to ignore.
even in death, they tried to bury your voice— but the roots rose up, but the wind hummed back, but the trees opened their arms & said: here you are.
you are not forgotten. your name sways in the branches. your soul dances in shadows of leaves. you rise, illuminated. you rise, unstoppable.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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