"Her Power, His Fear”

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 43rd 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.

I imagine him pacing,

confined to the smallness of his disbelief,

his world shrinking with each poll,

every vote that swells against him.

How dare she rise,

her laughter a defiance,

her voice a hymn of reclamation,

each word a seed in the soil of our rebellion.

He’s seen power as a fortress,

built on fear, walls of privilege thick as skin,

but she’s a different storm,

her presence unravels the myth of his invincibility.

He’s rattled by her stride,

by the way she steps into the room

and makes space for all of us—

#Black, #Brown, #Queer, #Woman, #Immigrant—

every story he’s tried to erase.

I can see him watching,

a king dethroned by the very people

he swore would never matter,

never dream, never vote.

How does he reckon with her smile,

that light too bright to be dimmed?

How does he make sense of her existence,

the power she wields not as conquest,

but as promise, as invitation?

He thought us small, thought us weak,

but we are the echo of generations,

the hope that has outlasted every no,

every law, every chain.

She’s not just doing better—

she’s doing justice,

undoing the lie that power belongs to men

who only know how to break and burn.

She is the phoenix and the flame,

the reckoning and the dream.

His disbelief is our laughter,

our joy in seeing the impossible unfold.

Because we know power can be more

than what he’s made it—

a weapon wielded by the few.

In her hands, it becomes something else,

a vision of what this world could be

if we all rise, if we all believe.

And so we rise.

And so we believe.

And so she leads.

©️MustafaSantiagoAli

#Poetry #ProudBlue #Resister #KamalaHarris #Vote