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 46th 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.
-mother’s heart is a drumbeat, a cradle of roots, where first songs hum beneath, the skin of the earth holds the tongues of elders, braiding stories in soil, weaving dreams like feathers.*
-they called the river by name before we could spell it, knew the scent of rain, the pulse of green, they prayed the moon back to full, and taught stars to sing— a chorus we silenced, forgot to believe.*
-we build over what is sacred, seeds swallowed by concrete and greed, but ancestors rise, soil thick with blood and breath, whispering truths we bury beneath our need.*
-we owe them more than empty words, more than apologies carved into treaties we break, we owe them land back, water clean, air clear, resources that renew, hands that heal.*
-how do you measure reparations for what you can’t replace? how do you ask forgiveness from the ones who remember how the world once danced? the trees, the wolves, the wind? we owe them the sun’s promise, the rain’s blessing, the river’s grace.*
-let us be students, not thieves, let us be kin to the caretakers who hold this world in their hands, and maybe, if we listen, the earth will forgive, teach us how to turn our damage into dance.*
-mother’s heart still beats beneath us, and the drum keeps time, the rhythm of life, let us lay our ear to the ground, and hear her— the first and endless prayer, the language of love, the call to rise.*
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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