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 127th in our Democracy and Hope Series. This series will highlight hopeful aspects about our Democracy using various genres including poems.
they don’t tell you that freedom smells like pine needles after rain like canyon winds whisperin’ names older than flags
they don’t say the eagle ain’t just a mascot, but a memory of what the sky once trusted
they paved stories into parking lots, but the bison still remember how the drumbeat felt before fences told the plains who could roam and who could not
i seen spirits dance in Yosemite mist heard children laugh with coyotes on the wind felt grandmothers rise from the red clay whenever i knelt to plant a seed
our rivers ain’t just water— they are sermons written in ripple, delivered to thirsty hearts who forgot what it means to kneel without conquest in their mouth
this ain’t just conservation this is resurrection this is saving the last wild prayer before it’s replaced with another mall
i walk the sacred like i walk my grandmother’s name— careful, reverent, knowing that every step is a thank you to a world that keeps forgiving us while we burn it for comfort
& yet— the deer still dance at dawn the mountains still hum their lullabies the earth still waits for us to remember we were once worthy of wonder.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #Wildlife #Nature #Healing