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 95th 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 need music that splits the sky, that stomps like rain on a rooftop funeral, that don’t whisper—it demands. music thick as honey dripped from calloused hands, a rhythm that rebels, that breaks open walls like soundwaves shaking the rust off time.
i need hip hop with graffiti in its veins, with beats carved from the concrete’s pulse, that don’t need permission, don’t wait for applause, that spits like prophets, that moves like truth, that samples struggle, scratches the past, then loops the ancestors into the future.
i need R&B that moonwalks through memory, that croons in the key of survival, that turns heartbreak into hymn, that slow-drags pain across the dance floor and makes it beautiful.
i need country that ain’t afraid of the dark, that knows a steel guitar can moan like a prayer, that carries the dust of old roads on its breath, that leans into sorrow like an old front porch where ghosts still hum in the wind.
i need jazz that don’t apologize, that riffs when the world says be quiet, that bends the note ‘til history snaps, that moves like a preacher catching the holy ghost in a language only the soul understands.
i need music that kicks down doors, that makes silence flinch, that stands its ground, music that don’t just play— it fights.
©️MustafaSantoagoAli
#Poetry #GRAMMYs #Music #Beyonce #Gaga #Doechii #Raye #Resister #BlackHistoryMonth #Cynthia #SZA @kendricklamar @MrChuckD #MichaelJackson