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 twentieth 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 event
—For the daughters— who learned to sew their dreams into the hems of hand-me-down dresses, who whispered hopes into the dark like secrets carried on the wind, knowing that one day, the world would turn to them for light.
—For the daughters— who carried water in cracked pots, held families together with threads of grace, their hands worn from work, their hearts full with love, who smiled through the sting of a world that saw them but didn’t see them, who knew their worth even when it wasn’t spoken.
—For the daughters— who danced in the margins of history, feet tracing steps laid down by mothers who knew the cost of silence, who sang songs of freedom with voices that echoed off walls meant to keep them out, who turned every no into a maybe, every maybe into a yes, who refused to be denied the stage they deserved.
—For the daughters— who wore their hair like crowns, their skin a testament to the sun’s warm embrace, who understood that beauty was not in the eyes of the beholder, but in the knowing, in the owning of every curve, every shade, every scar that told a story worth telling.
—For the daughters— who dared to dream in a world that asked them to settle, who reached beyond the stars even when they were told the sky was the limit, who carved out spaces in rooms they were never meant to enter, who made a way out of no way.
—For the daughters— who now see her, standing tall at the DNC, a voice that carries all their voices, a presence that demands the world pay attention, a reminder that the fire they carried in their chests was never meant to burn quietly, but to blaze, to light the way forward.
—For the daughters— who know that this is their time, that the future has always been theirs to claim, who see in her the reflection of every battle fought, every tear shed, every victory won in the name of justice, in the name of equality, in the name of a dream that refuses to die.
—For the daughters— who rise with her, who walk in the light of all they have survived, who wear their resilience like armor, their hope like a banner, who know that they are not just seen, but revered, not just heard, but celebrated, who stand at the edge of tomorrow with fists raised and hearts open, ready to claim the world that has always been theirs.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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