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 97th in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems we be the drum / the hum / the hands that built this country brick by stolen brick / we be the math / the map / the root / they try to mute but still we speak / we be dark skies birthing suns / blue notes bending time / we be sugarcane & steel / gold-tipped minds & diamond spines / they wrote hate in red / we bled poems they burned our names / we rose in songs they called us shadows / we be dawn every breath a march beyond. we be yesterday’s dream / today’s fight / tomorrow’s endless climb. black history ain’t no footnote. we be the whole damn rhyme. ©️MustafaSantiagoAli