Cover image: Manifestation contre les violences policières III (detail)
© Roseline Armange

This is the final part of a three-part poem called "Out-Rage," submitted by Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane)*.

*************

Refusing to acknowledge
Disregarding intentionally
Refusing to take notice
Passing over
Snubbing over
Spurring disdainfully
Pains
Tears
Fear
Humanness
Being blind
Accepting to be blind
Expressing blindness
Praising it
Entitled with it

An ignorance that out-rage my mind
An ignorance that out-rage my spirit
An ignorance that out-rage my body

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

But I know I have to accept it right! Right?
To calm down! Right?
To shut my mouth! Right?

Neither in the first or the second case
Shooting is your response.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is Justice crossing your mind.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is humanity crossing your mind.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is empathy crossing your mind.

Is it right?
Right?

Manifestation contre les violences policières III
(No justice, no peace)
© Roseline Armange

But your ignorance calls out our voices
Your ignorance is the paradox of our consciousness
Your ignorance is my double consciousness
Your ignorance is my words in action, my body in motion, and my soul in resurrection.

To unsilence your political ignorance
To unsilence your social ignorance
To unsilence your racial ignorance
To unsilence your emotional ignorance
To unsilence who I am
To unsilence who they were, once
To unsilence who He was
To unsilence the many Hims
To unsilence the many Hers
To unsilence our Humanity

To Breathe again
To Breathe again
To Breathe again
Breathe again
Breathe again, breathe again, breathe again, again, again, again, again!

Oh Dear Lord, breathe into my soul your words of light and compassion!

And you:
Do not make me look like a fool!
Do not make her look like a fool!
Do not make us looks like fools!
Because your time has ended!
You cannot cover it up, again, again, again and again and again
Because we will breathe again, again, again and again!

Did you not understand?
Did you not learn from your past?
Your bloody hand will pass on your generation!
Your bloody hand will shame your son!
Your bloody hand is an offense for those who dare to understand, listen, and cultivate empathize, removing themselves from the Egotic position of what you wanted them to think!

Your ignorance has passed, Your power has passed
A White mask that is falling off
A White mask that is burning in the cities
A Black mask that is falling off
A Black mask that is burning in the cities
Burning your Western definition of race
Burning your Western theodicy of race
Burning your Western knowledge of race
Burning your Western epistem of race

Do not try to make me decadent!
Do not try to make me a fool!
Do not try to reverse it again and again!

Are you fearing seeing your face beyond the bar?
Are you fearing dying like George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Christian Marajo, Edmond-Éloi Véronique, Julien Betzi, and Adama Traoré?
Are you fearing losing your White privilege?
Are you fearing facing the truth of your cultivated ignorance?

How can you let the ideology of your mind
Shame our Human light?
How can you let the ideology of your mind
Shame your light?
How can you let the ideology of your right
Shame those who build together?

How do you let the bullet of your gun
Shoot Heads?

How do you let the weight of your body kill bones?
How do you let the title of your formation enforce laws?
How do you let the power of your tongue abuse power?

Didn’t His life Matter enough?
Did you not see yourself in His humanity?
Does your breath matter more?
At the end who wins?
Does your act make you fall asleep with peace of mind?
Does your violence make you stronger?
Did you feel empowered?
Did you feel great again?
Did you feel alive again?

“Oh [My Soul] [...], always make me a [Wo]man who questions!”**
… An outrage of My soul, His soul, Her soul, Us souls!

Lucy Jane. Millions of thoughts, millions of time, millions of us: A process in several pieces.
Paris, Mardi 02 Juin 2020.
Paris, Jeudi 04 Juin 2020.
Paris, Lundi 08 Juin 2020. 

*A clinical and health psychologist by training, Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane), earned her doctorate in cognitive psychology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne, Paris) with summa cum laude distinction (mention très honorable et les félicitations du jury). Her scholarship exploits the intersection of politics, race, gender, literature, philosophy, and psychology. The interdisciplinary nature of her research led her to be selected as the 2018-2019 Dubois-Mandela-Rodney Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Faculty at the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). By placing non-Western academic knowledge’s and creative praxis at the epicenter of her work, Armange’s scholarly and artistic foundations challenge the cultural and Western world view.  Her career as a humanistic scholar intertwines with her artistic persona. Art and aesthetics are at the intersections of her passions for creative writing, fashion, and Soul-Jazz music. Her world mission aims to inspire and awaken the light in us.

**Fanon, F (2008). Black skins, White masks (Richard Philcox, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published 1952)