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 fifteenth 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
Watching the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz campaign unfold is like witnessing the dawn after a long night, where every hue in the sky promises a new beginning. It’s the kind of sunrise that catches your breath, where the colors bleed into each other, soft yet vivid, each one a reminder that light follows darkness, that hope is not just a word but a feeling that you can see and touch.
There’s something about this campaign that feels like breathing in the first cool air of the morning. It’s clean, crisp, untainted by the stale rhetoric that usually clogs the political atmosphere. This is the kind of air that fills your lungs with possibility, the kind that makes you stand a little taller, walk a little faster, because you know you’re headed somewhere worth going.
It’s not just the promise of what’s to come that resonates; it’s the harmony of the present moment. Watching Harris and Walz together is like hearing a melody that’s been carefully crafted, each note in perfect sync with the next, creating a rhythm that you didn’t know you needed until you heard it. It’s a tune that stays with you long after the music has stopped, echoing in your mind like the memory of a song that once brought you to tears.
And then there’s the feeling of home. Not the home of four walls and a roof, but the home that lives in your heart, the place where you feel safe, understood, and seen. This campaign is like returning to that place after a journey that’s taken everything out of you. It’s the kind of homecoming that wraps you in warmth, where the weight of the world lifts off your shoulders, and you know, deep down, that you’ve arrived at exactly the right place, at exactly the right time.
In this campaign, there is peace—a kind that is rarely found in politics. It’s the peace that comes from knowing that the future is being shaped by hands that care, by minds that understand the gravity of the task ahead. But it’s not just peace; it’s promise too. The promise that things can be different, that the journey forward doesn’t have to be as painful as the road behind. It’s the promise of unity, of progress, of a future where the sunrise isn’t just a beautiful moment, but a symbol of what’s to come.
This isn’t just a campaign; it’s a narrative of possibility, a story that’s still being written but one that you already know will end with hope. It’s the kind of narrative that reminds you why you fight, why you believe, why you never give up on the dream of a better tomorrow. Because in Harris and Walz, you see not just leaders, but the embodiment of a future where the sunrise is a little brighter, the air a little cleaner, the melody a little sweeter, and home a little closer.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
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