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 nineteenth 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 event
I’m a prayer in the wind, a whisper wrapped in skin, the dream they tried to drown, but here I am, breathing again. My vote is a shout, a scream, a hymn, a caged bird's song, it’s all the hope I’ve held, for my babies to belong.
This ballot ain’t just paper, it’s a lifeline, a tether, it’s my mama’s mama’s tears, stitched into forever. They told us we were nothing, but we made something out of dust, we forged futures in the fire, of a nation’s broken trust.
I vote like I bleed, like I birth, like I breathe, like I grieve, like the roots of my story are too deep to leave. It’s for my children’s children, who I’ll never get to see, but I’ll carve their names in stone, with every choice, every decree.
I’m the hands that hold tomorrow, I’m the feet that march the way, I’m the silence that will roar on Election Day. So when you ask me why I vote, know it’s for the blood and bone— for the ones who’ll rise up stronger, from the seeds that I have sown.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #Vote #ProudBlue #KamalaHarris2024 @VP