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 81th 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
Breathe—
that first lesson you laced into us,
a map of lungs expanding into galaxies,
a language of air and survival,
the subtle art of holding it
when the world clenches its fist
or blows its winds too harshly.
You taught me to inhale rebellion,
exhale poetry—
every line a hymn, every word a blade.
Believe—
you whispered it like gospel,
a chorus riding on Black tongues,
breaking chains syllable by syllable.
You showed us how to cup dreams in our palms,
even when they burned or bled.
Belief is heavier than despair,
you said,
but it’s the only thing worth carrying.
I watched you weave love
like it was your mother tongue—
knots of truth, ropes of tenderness,
binding the broken back to whole.
You turned softness into armor,
showed us how to weaponize joy
against a world too eager
to deny our laughter.
You taught me to find peace
not in silence, but in defiance,
in speaking my name until it roared,
until it grew branches
reaching past the margins they gave us.
You pulled my voice from the soil,
taught it to blossom even in drought.
Peace, you said,
is not the absence of struggle
but the presence of hope.
Now you rise,
light as a hymn,
heavy as a legacy.
The ancestors stretch their arms wide—
Zora, Maya, Baldwin, Hughes—
a constellation of Black brilliance,
ready to hold you,
to crown you among stars.
We breathe because of you.
We believe because of you.
Peaceful journey, Nikki—
may your words forever linger
like the sweet aftertaste of freedom.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#NikkiGiovanni #BlackArts #BlackPoetry #BlackLiberation