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 73rd 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
they ask why i don’t fold / don’t bow / don’t break—
i say / Mrs. Fletcher still walks / still sings her bones hum the blues of a land that once tried to silence her / still she shouts / her tongue a blade slicing through 110 years of lies.
tell me / what is justice if not her name etched in the winds of Greenwood? what is freedom if not the breath she takes in a world that once choked her dreams?
she’s seen the soil soaked in Black blood / seen women buried beneath their own shadows, seen America wear its hatred like Sunday best. yet still she stands, holding hope like a hymn.
if she can stand against time’s cruel hand / if she can dream through the smoke and ash, then so can we / so must we.
i draw courage from the wrinkles in her face, each line a map of where we’ve been, each scar a reminder that the fight is far from over.
Mrs. Fletcher carries 110 years of truth, and i carry her story in my spine.
because if she can still rise / then so can we. if she can still fight / then so can we.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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