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…
I was there, feet deep in the water’s lie, watching rooftops become islands, watching promises float away like debris. ain’t no rescue, just the hum of helicopters and the slow fade of hope on repeat. I called out, but my voice got lost in the wind’s sharp tongue, in the shrug of a nation that looked the other way.
they say disaster, but I know the truth: Katrina wasn’t the first storm to drown us, just the loudest. we been sinking since the first politician signed a deal that turned our air thick, our waters slick with the oil of neglect, turned our lives into a hustle for breath, for clean, for dry.
they got names for the levees but not the people, got plans for the land but not the bodies that bled in the mud, got laws that promise protection but none that promise justice. they call it progress when they pave over pain, when they build mansions on graves, when they stand on stages & talk about futures that don’t include us.
I see the water still creeping, I feel the heat still rising, I hear the lies still spinning, & I’m tired of shouting at walls. they build them high but can’t keep the truth out, can’t keep the rain from falling, can’t keep the hurricanes from learning our names. we know the game, we know the script, we know the way they shift blame like the tides shift sand—always moving, never settling, always erasing the footprints of those who came before.
they say resilience like it’s a gift, like it’s a badge we earned by surviving the worst. but I don’t want to be strong, I want to be safe, want to live without the shadow of the next flood, the next betrayal, the next politician with pockets too deep & a conscience too shallow.
I ain’t asking for pity, just a place to stand where the ground don’t give way, where the water don’t rise, where my children can breathe without choking on the lies they tell to keep us quiet, to keep us waiting, to keep us wading through waters we never asked for.
it’s the anniversary again, & I’m still here, still shouting, still wading through the memories, still dreaming of a day when the storms are just weather, when the floods are just rain, when the only thing rising is us.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #HurricaneKatrina #ProudBlue #ClimateCrisis #EnvironmentalJustice #Vote #Humanity