The New Normal

This school year looks different. Instead of taking pictures of my children at the bus stop and in the elementary school courtyard, I photographed them at desks in their bedrooms and in front of the giant dining room white board. 

This is not the year they were imagining. This is not the year any of us was imagining. And as our community confronts the gap between what we had hoped for this school year and what it has turned out to be, a question keeps coming up. 

When will we get back to normal?

As I have walked around town these last six months, I have heard this again and again. It is a question my children have asked me. And, in the beginning, it was a question I asked myself and my husband. But I don’t ask that question anymore, because I don’t want to go back to normal. 

Last week, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer, in front of his three sons, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This is not a remarkable event in this country. It is normal. 

Breonna Taylor was shot in her bed in her own home by police, more than 160 days ago, in  Louisville, Kentucky. Only one of the three officers responsible for her murder has been fired, and none have been arrested. Breonna’s story is the story of many other Black people in this country. What happened to her is normal. 

COVID-19 has given white people the time to notice what has always been there, and to engage in unprecedented activism. But what is happening right now is not new. In the midst of the loss of Black life these past months, many white people have said, “We are better than this.” But where’s the evidence for that? When has this country ever shown itself to be better than this?

Normal in this country prioritizes the lives of the privileged. This type of normal predates the current political climate. It knows no party. This is a country built primarily to serve rich, straight, white men, and it serves that purpose well. 

I have no interest in returning to that normal. In fact, I would sacrifice a great deal to never go back. 

Satya Nelms
Associate Editor