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 17th in our Democracy and Peril Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems, interviews, short stories, and articles about political events
They got bold, didn’t they? Said the things our grandmothers knew but they wouldn’t utter in daylight, words that burned beneath skin, the quiet slurs whispered in back rooms, now rolling off their tongues like gospel truth.
A man with a mic calls an island trash, as if his words could drown the tides, as if a people built on salt and storm could be washed away by the spit of hate. He laughs, calls it “just a joke”— but we see the cracks where the poison leaks.
They chant in confidence, high on their own spin, preach a future they’ve carved from fear, while numbers lie soft on the edge of maybe, and victory’s a candle, flickering in the wind.
But we know the sound of false prophecy, the sting of spit disguised as pride— and we know that when they say it out loud, it’s not courage, not strength. It’s the desperate song of those who fear the light creeping in.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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