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 42nd 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.
they ask, *isn’t it time?* time to bless this bruised land, to hold it like a child in need of story & song— to raise it up, clothed in the warmth of care, not the cold rhetoric of walls & wire?
Kamala knows the language of those unlisted in headlines, the name-missed & forgotten, those who’ve held their stories in quiet hands, waiting for a leader who sees how the light of the unheard can brighten a nation’s path.
trump tells us: *build a wall, build a wall.* he wants to lock us all in a cage made of barbed tongues & fear-shouts. his gospel is division, a hymn of hollow pride, demanding we tear down our own, turn brother against sister, drown out the song of us.
but we will not go back— *not today, not ever.*
because when we love, we grow wings, when we rise, we leave no one behind. we choose the hands that build, that cradle, that mend & lift, not those that clutch & tear.
common sense is seeing the beauty in every voice, hearing the heart in every fight for dignity. we need a leader who kneels beside us, heals beside us, lifts us when we falter, knows that this fight isn’t just for some, but for every child still learning the meaning of *belonging* in this place.
so we cast our lot with those who build bridges, not walls. with those who give breath to hope, not choke it in the dark.
& when we fight, we remember— we fight for all of us. because the future is waiting on the other side of fear, where love is the only banner we’ll ever need to wave.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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