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 twenty-ninth 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.
& she steps, light & loud, into history’s waiting room, a name that blooms like fireworks— Kamala, comet with a purpose, carving galaxies in the shadow of a glass ceiling's jagged edge,
she pulls up a chair for all of us— our grandmas, our girls, our mothers who sang freedom through clenched teeth & kitchen prayers, she wears their hope like a flag, marches on so we don’t march alone,
her voice, a bridge & a gospel, an anthem not yet sung, carving space for the quiet, the ones told to hush, to bend, she listens with a heart wide enough to hold a nation’s trembling dreams,
she leads with joy, with joy, the kind that stands up in the dark, the kind that says *we belong*, all of us—brown & brilliant, black & blooming, broken & bold, every whispered voice now loud as thunder,
we rise because she rises, head high, heels to sky, an echo of every ancestor’s shout, she makes the room bigger, opens the door wider, until we are all seen, all heard, until the world is as big as her hope.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #Joy #ProudBlue #DemVoice1 #KamalaHarris #Hope #WeAreNotGoingBack