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Navigating the idiosyncrasies of the year 2020 modestly introduced the insistent opportunity to minimally reflect on life as we knew it, ask questions about the why of everything, and ponder potential innovative possibilities. Making space to pause and rethink normal may prove better than simply defaulting to normal without a critical examination of what normal really means. We can begin by at least posing the question, “What is normal?”
Having experienced the year 2020, continues to inspire reflections of life as we knew it, normal. To some, the year 2020 presented as a gift, while others received 2020 as a curse. Reflecting on glimpses into both realities presents valid questions of normal. Gift, curse or combination, the grace of this moment encompasses our presence. And since we are still here, does normal mean the way things were and the way things used to be? Is normal typical, average, and usual? Do we apply what may prove as normal for one individual or group of people as normal, although each model of normal is vastly different? Is normal predictable or expected? Are we to default to a normal state with conformation and submission? Is normal a state of mind, frame of reality, mode of oppression, or all of the above?
Recognizing that the so-called normal perpetuates inequities and injustices, further encourages interrogation of our mere language, beginning with the word normal. The spoken word normal sounds familiar and nonthreatening, but the unspoken notion, and expected behavior of returning to the common definition of the so-called word normal feels deceptive and insane. Does normal mean that the economically advantaged continue to receive inconceivable monetary gains on ill health and death? In contrast, does normal mean that front line workers continue to endure unimaginable risks as a heavy ethical attempt to provide adequate standards of service and care? Dare to answer with truth in acknowledgment of both spectrums as the year 2020 exemplifies what was formerly known as normal.
All these questions about normal leads me to ask the questions, who decides what normal is, and how is normal determined in our lives? These questions alone demonstrate varying degrees of normal. Normal appears as a preservation of established patterns and tenets, which do not exclude the obvious tragedies within its context, qualifying as an unjust and redundant habitual accord. Normal presents as the perception and vantage point of the dominant culture enabling manipulations and abuses of power.
Given the potential answers to these questions, normal is not a state that I would voluntarily choose to return to based on my lived experiences as a lack woman in America. How does normal shape our lived experiences? Normal for me means to embrace an oppressively overstressed way of life. Normal means to passively give up the dignity that accompanies my birth right onto this planet. Normal means to sacrifice the hope for revolutionary transformation and continue to endure impositions of utter hate and unfathomable hostility for my existence.
Relative to my lived experiences as a woman of color, I have no interest in returning to a typical or average state that has calibrated my plight and pain as normal. The so-called normal standard for a person of color may imply inferiority and unworthiness based on the national historical narrative, which is taught, told, accepted, controlled, reinforced, and valued. Please note, as a human being, I vehemently reject this deficit narrative. The applications of the so called normal must consider and reconsider lived experiences based on the sacredness of the stories shared by the collective growing majority, the former minority.
With these thoughts in mind, we must rethink and redefine normal relative to intent and impact. Are we implicitly making assumptions that the normal experience in this country mirrors a standard of justice and liberty for all? Are we holding onto an ideal based on the concept of normal although by definition, the so-called normal functions to recycle varied accounts, the ability to survive versus the ability to thrive? If deconstructing the so-called normal sparks more questions versus cookie cutter solutions, should we not investigate how we can right centuries of wrongs? Why rush to return to normal, a state that is absent of a measure in good faith for all people?
Rethinking normal requires us to examine our conditioning for normal, which has far too long yielded a state of comfort, complacence, and compliance. The act of rethinking normal leads to more questions accompanied by potentially disturbing answers. Witnessing the world race to preserve lives in response to a deadly global pandemic compounded by pervasive lethal racial injustices, delivered intense lessons. The reality of the pandemic created a nearly timeless space for global citizens to pause and try to comprehend the disproportionate inhumane and criminal assassinations of Black people as profoundly too normal in America. Rethinking normal may lead us to places we have never explored, fearing the unknown, but building enough courage to surrender to the journey of creating a better place for everyone.
