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 66th 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
I trust women like I trust the sun to rise and the river to run— I trust in the quiet hum of their knowing, the way they carry whole worlds on a single breath, how they hold the weight of history in the crook of their neck, shouldering stories, bending but never breaking.
I trust women, in the shade of their laughter and the swell of their sorrow, like roots gripping soil, they are grounded, firm, and true— grandmothers whose hands shook us to sleep, mothers whose eyes teach us to see, sisters who weave lifelines in word and deed, each one fierce in her love, soft in her might, echoing generations of struggle, turning darkness to light.
I trust women who trace the lines between what was and what could be, who know the language of seeds and of stars, who’ve danced with fire and walked through storms, never asking for permission, rewriting the forms.
I trust women like I trust water to find its path, like I trust spring to break winter’s wrath— they’ve held me when I was too weak to stand, they’ve held secrets, truths like sand, slipping through fingers, shaping new lands.
I trust women to know when to hold on and when to let go, to honor both silence and the need to roar, to guard and to guide, to nurture and to heal— they know when the world asks too much and still, they rise, rooted, in defiance and grace, they know the sacredness of claiming space.
So when I hear the world cast doubt, when they try to bind or map women’s lives out, I say trust in the wisdom they carry so deep— trust the hands that rock cradles and raise up whole streets, trust the voice that speaks when it’s hard to speak.
Because reproductive freedom is not just a right— it’s faith in their wisdom, trust in their sight, it’s knowing they’re sacred, whole, unbroken, and free. Trust women to hold their lives, their choices, their bodies—completely.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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