Editor’s note: The perpetually overdue conversation about race is growing louder, and we’re sure this is the path to healing and justice. The co-founders of NextTribe are two white women who know it’s vital to be more inclusive, to publish other voices, and to use this platform to open minds and show life from different perspectives. We are thrilled that Dianne Earley has shared her thoughts and poems here. We also welcome others to add their opinions and experiences on the seismic shift this country is going through. Please contact us at editorial@NextTribe.com.
***
Quiet time – Alone at home
So I penned this Corona poem…
This Covid world is upside down
And we all live in Crazy Town
In between our zoom calls
Exercise and walks and all
We’re creating homemade masks
And finding peace in mundane tasks
Wearing gloves to check the mail
Binging Netflix epic fails
Hulu, Prime, broadcast tv
With shows we never thought
We’d see
Videos and texts we’ve seen
With animated gifs and memes
Of unhinged no-mask-wearing fools
Breaking state and local rules
Happy moments sprinkled in
Then Crazy Town erupts again
Anti-distancing beliefs
Disrupting Dr. Fauci’s briefs
Disinfectants
Trump’s tweet show
Lifting bans as cases grow
Glad to be up on the news
But it sure gives me the blues
Protests rage across the nation
Claiming masks are a violation
3 months late but finally…
A bit of justice for Arbery
40 million unemployed
And a working cop kills George Floyd
Covid 19 ills are mounting
100,000 deaths and counting
And Amy Cooper calls 911
On a bird-watching brother just out for fun
I told you, we’re in Crazy Town
Where lots of crazy stuff goes down
These trying times they feel so wrong
And yet… the struggle makes us strong
So take a minute…Reset your mood
Greet challenges with fortitude
Pray for those in great harm’s way
And fight the fight for right each day
Ashamed
When fear steals pride
And pride whips hope
And hope just fades away
When young men don’t believe
They’ll live to see another day
When anguish buckles parents’ knees
And their tortured screams ignite
Because their children’s dreams were snatched
In the dark of broad daylight
It makes me wonder who we are
And how it is that we
Became adrift from what our GOD
Intended us to be
Americathebeautiful
We have ourselves to blame
From lynching trees to shooting sprees
We should be
Ashamed
Read More: Owning Up to My Own Racism: A First Step Toward Creating Change
“Spot Check”
On Sunday afternoons my parents would take us out for rides sometimes. We’d look at houses nicer than the one we lived in and dream. Or else we’d drop in on relatives who never seemed to mind and play games outside with cousins.
Freeze Tag…Double Dutch…Red Light Green Light
On the way home we’d stop at the High’s Store on 12th and Newton for ice cream or fruit punch. But one day as my sister and I had just crawled into the backseat with our treats and my father was about to pull away from the curb, a policeman rolled up behind us and ordered him out of the car. When my father asked why, the policeman yelled, “spot check.” I remember my father saying “Wait… what’s that? I’m just out with my family for a Sunday drive,” as his hands were forced to the roof of the car. Through the windshield I watched my father’s face twist in discomfort, confusion and embarrassment as he was told to spread his legs and was patted down. Then the policeman stepped back, said something over the radio and left as we all watched in silence. It was over in minutes. No explanation. No arrest. No apology.
Spot Check was just a mean cop’s game.
We didn’t go straight home. Instead we went to the 12th precinct on Rhode Island Avenue in Brookland where my sister and I were instructed to sit on a bench while my parents “spoke” to some guys in uniform behind a desk. I don’t know what was said. I will never know, because my family never spoke of it again. But I could guess.
***
Dianne Earley is an executive and life coach and former sales and operations business leader. Throughout her corporate career, she has been a champion of diversity and transformation. In 2016, Savoy Magazine named her one of the “Top Influential Women in Corporate America.” Dianne is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Communication, an alumna of the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute.
