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 112th in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems
Brief Biography of Ananda Lewis
Ananda Lewis (1973-2025) was an American broadcast journalist, tv host, model and carpenter. Lewis graduated from Howard University with a degree in History. She was a leading host and staple on MTV in the 1990s. She hosted Total Request Live and the video countdown show Hot Zone. She left the network in 2001 to start her own talk show, The Amanda Lewis show. In October 2020, Lewis announced she had been battling Stage 3 breast cancer for two years. She succumbed to the disease on June 11th 2025. She was 52 years old at the time of her death.
i don’t like writing eulogies but love keeps tugging at my pen— says tell them about her smile, how it walked into rooms before her feet ever did.
ananda wasn’t just beautiful, she was sunlight with a spine, kissed the world on both cheeks and dared it to rise better.
she didn’t half-love— nah, she gave you all of it. soft when you needed sharp when you didn’t know you did.
and me? i’m guilty. should’ve told her more than once, more than birthdays or news cycles of loss— should’ve said you are needed the way lungs need air, the way truth needs a witness.
but that’s the trick of grief— it teaches you what love should’ve already taught.
so i light a candle, not to mourn, but to remember: she was here, & bright, & ours.
& now, she’s everywhere i forgot to say thank you.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#AnandaLewis #RIP #PeaceAndLove