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 104th in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems
they won’t discuss this on tv— earth day ain’t balloons & biodegradable lies, it’s grandmama’s cough in a town where smokestacks baptize skies, where water turns the color of grief & kids spell asthma before they spell hope.
they won’t play this on the radio— too busy spinning plastic praise, but we out here digging truth with shovels made of protest chants and the memory of rivers before they learned how to choke.
they won’t read this in schools— ’cause justice don’t fit neatly between whitewashed lines. but we learn from the soil, the way it holds secrets, the way it still rises.
to us, earth day is not a holiday. it’s a frontline. a war cry in Cancer Alley. a prayer in Flint. a promise in the Bronx where trees are rarer than peace.
under the trump of greed, they tried to erase our green. cut budgets like they were weeds, but we’re the seeds— brown, breathing, brilliant still sprouting despite the silence.
so we celebrate with locked arms & unlocked truths, with love that don’t need permission, with children who refuse extinction.
no, they won’t air this. but we don’t need their stations. we got each other— & this earth. & the fire to defend it.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#EarthDay2025