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…
there is a gravity in your voice / a seismic shift / the earth’s rejoice / a boom / a murmur / a quiet choice / a sonic temple / a timeless noise— James, you were the bassline in our bones / the baritone that made old wounds moan / the echo of every dream that’s grown / from Mississippi mud to a king’s throne.
you spoke like the sky / heavy and wide, like thunder rolling through the soul’s divide, taught us how to stand / how to survive, how to hold our rage and our love inside. you were the roar we needed when the world went mute, a lion’s growl / a warrior’s pursuit, you made poetry out of the roots / you were the bridge / you were the truth.
now you return / dust to dust, to the whispered chants of all of us, to the songs that tremble in ancestral trust, to the freedom we crave but rarely discuss. James, you are the low hum of a blues guitar, the deep pull of gravity in every star, the breath we hold in the back of the car / a voice that travels wherever we are.
you rise now, back to where the spirits dwell, back to the stories that only time can tell, back to the rivers where our ancestors fell, to the prayers unspoken that still compel. you are not lost / you are multiplied, each word you spoke lives deep inside, you are the echo we cannot hide— James, you are remembered, sanctified.
you taught us that power lives in sound, that a voice can shake both sky and ground, that to speak is to build / to unbound, that we are everything we’ve found. so go, brother, to the fields of your fathers, to the drums and the sun and the sweet old waters, you are not gone / you are our charter, you are the voice / and we are your sons and daughters.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #Art #Culture #Love #RIP