Charting a New Course: Economic Opportunity Agenda for Black Men

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 60th 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

We are genius, yes, genius, both hands and mind, with a legacy sharpened, a lineage refined, built nations on our backs, spoke truth into the wind, we are the pulse, the breath, the origin, the end.

I’m talkin’ ’bout an economy that honors our grind, where intellect and sweat can ascend, intertwined, where we can reach past the ceilings they placed, and our work, our brilliance, don’t go to waste.

She’s saying she sees us, wants us to rise, sees worth in our hands, sees light in our eyes. Not here to take, to discard, to control, but to fuel the fire, let our ambitions roll.

And yet, there’s another who don’t know our names, sees us as numbers, as shadows, as games. To him, we’re tools, just means to an end, a pawn to be used, not a voice, not a friend.

So we cast our ballots, this time we choose, do we walk on paths paved in someone else’s bruise, or build from the ground up, in sweat, grit, and might, an economy that sees us, that holds us in light.

Because we’re more than the labor, the bone, or the skin, we are the story, the future, let the building begin.

©️MustafaSantiagoAli

See our related pieces on Historianspeaks

Black Men and the Vote: Misinformation, Gender and Common Sense (historianspeaks.org)

Kamala Harris: An Agenda for Black Men (historianspeaks.org)

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