"For Sister Assata Shakur - The Flame Who Fled and Fought"

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 129th  in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems.

They called you exile—

but you were freedom wrapped in a woman’s frame,

steel in your spine, thunder in your name.

__________

You didn’t run—

you rose.

From courtroom cold to Cuba’s sun,

you became the breath between bars and bullets,

the hush before a riot breaks wide.

__________

You loved us so loud

the empire branded it danger.

You kissed justice on the mouth

with cracked lips and a rifle near.

Not for thrill,

but so a Black child might sleep

with both eyes shut.

__________

You didn’t beg the butcher

for mercy.

You whispered truth to the wind

and made it carry us.

__________

Thank you

for loving us enough to disappear,

for writing freedom

in blood, in code, in poems

that only the hunted understand.

__________

You didn’t just live your words—

you outran them.

And we are still

catching up.

©️MustafaSantiagoAli

#AssataShakur #Exile #Cuba #PoliticalActivist