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 twenty-seventh 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.
Here’s to the ones who color outside lines, who laugh with hearts wide open, who see the world as it is, not as it’s told to be.
Their joy is a song without notes, a melody that drips from the sky, a truth too bright for some to hold, but we— we dance in its light.
They love without masks, a love so pure it shakes the air, makes it cleaner, clearer, like rain after the longest drought.
In their presence, the world is fuller, a canvas not yet finished, and we are lucky to see the strokes, to catch the colors they release.
This space, this life, this heart— it is theirs, and in their love, we find the missing pieces, the truth of all that is yet to be.
©️MustaraSantiagoAli
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