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NO! The Rape Documentary (2006)

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (producer, writer, director) is a documentary filmmaker, cultural worker, independent scholar, and activist.

NO! on screen contributors (in attendance)

  • Sultan Ali (actor) is a visual artist, craftsman, culinary artist, and actor.

  • Charlotte Pierce-Baker (interviewee) is an author and professor emerita of English at Vanderbilt University.

  • Aminata Cairo Baruti (dancer/choreographer) is the first Policy Officer of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

  • Pat Clark (interviewee in Breaking Silences: Supplemental Video to NO!) is a criminal and social justice advocate who is currently the Program and Operations Manager for the Fund for Non Violence.

  • Johnnetta Betsch Cole (interviewee) retired as the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in 2017. Dr. Cole is president emerita of Spelman College and Bennett College, and also professor emerita of Emory University from which she retired as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African American Studies.

  • Adrienne Davis (interviewee) is the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law and Vice Provost of Washington University.

  • Orleana Clark Edwards (actor) is the mother of Liam Brodie Clark and Chastity Leanne Edwards, partner of Tyrell Edwards, and caregiver for the elderly who is concerned about social justice for all.

  • Farah Jasmine Griffin (interviewee) is the inaugural Chair of the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, and the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies.

  • Audree Irons (interviewee) is an administrative coordinator at Georgia State University.

  • F. Reanae McNeal (interviewee) is an activist-artist-scholar who is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at Oklahoma State University.

  • Faith Pennant (dancer and actor)

  • Loretta J. Ross (interviewee) is a cofounder of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the co-creator, in 1994, of the theory of reproductive justice.

  • Beverly Guy-Sheftall (interviewee) is founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center (since 1981) and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College.

  • Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons (interviewee) is a veteran of the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and a professor emerita of African American studies and religion at the University of Florida.

  • Michael Simmons (interviewee) is an international human rights advocate, community organizer, and co-director, with Linda Carranza, of the Räday Salon in Budapest, Hungary.

  • Salamishah Tillet (interviewee) is the Henry Rutgers Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing and a co-founder of A Long Walk Home, Inc.

  • Scheherazade Tillet (interviewee) is a co-founder and the executive director of A Long Walk Home, Inc.

  • Traci C. West (interviewee) is a professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University School of Theology.

  • Tamara L. Xavier (dancer/choreographer) is an independent scholar whose performances have been supported by the Black Women's Art Festival, among others, and her research will be included in the forthcoming book Fire Under My Feet: Historical Perspectives on Dance in the African Diaspora edited by Dr. Ofosuwa M. Abiola.

NO! filmmakers, scholar-activist advisors, translators, study guide creators, educational distributor (in attendance)

  • Charlotte Pierce-Baker (scholar-activist advisor) is an author and professor emerita of English at Vanderbilt University.

  • Amadee L. Braxton (associate producer/archival researcher) is the president of the Leeway Foundation, and a trainer and facilitator at Dragonfly Partners.

  • Joan Brannon (associate producer/director of photography/co-writer) is the founder and lead facilitator / coach for DrummingWorks and a teaching artist for Kentucky Centers’ ArtsReach and Ky Arts Council

  • Elsa Barkley Brown (scholar-activist advisor) is an associate professor of History and Women’s Studies and affiliate faculty in African American Studies and American Studies

  • Joel Byrd (on set dresser)

  • Nawo Crawford (French translator)

  • Kia Steave Dickerson (set decorator) is an interior designer, set designer, and property master on films, commercials, and musical theatre productions, frequently working on M. Night Shyamalan's films.

  • Paul Farber (study guide copy editor) is the artistic director of Monument Lab and teaches courses in Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Wadia L. Gardiner (associate producer/production manager)

  • Charlene Gilbert (director of photography, Essex Hemphill & Queen segments) is the Dean of College of Arts and Letters and professor of Film at University of Toledo.

  • Nikki Harmon (assistant director) pursued a career in television and film production. A former reality television producer and adjunct professor, she has also published two novels, When I Was Your Girlfriend, and Neither Here Nor There.

  • Denise C. Jones (associate producer, Essex Hemphill segment)

  • Barbara Kigozi (production stills photographer, Essex Hemphill segment) is a filmmaker, photographer, community and political activist advocating for community engagement in the political process. 

  • Gail M. Lloyd (co-producer/assistant camera/contributing editor) is an independent filmmaker with over 25-years experience. Since 2013, she has expanded her artistic repertoire to multimedia expression working with ceramics, wood, and metal/welding.

  • Tina Morton (director of photography and editor of closing dance sequence) is a media activist and associate professor at Media, Journalism and Film Howard University.

  • Sharon Mullally (editor) is an Emmy Award-winning independent producer/director and editor whose work regularly appears on local and national public television.

  • Evelyne Laurent-Perrault (Spanish translator) is an assistant professor of History at the University of California Santa Barbara in the History Department.

  • Rachel Afi Quinn (study guide co-writer) is an assistant professor of Comparative Cultural Studies and Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

  • Michael Simmons (creative advisor) is an international human rights advocate, community organizer, and co-director, with Linda Carranza, of the Räday Salon in Budapest, Hungary.

  • Janine Spruill (production assistant) is the Founder/Executive Director of Lil Filmmakers

  • Salamishah Tillet (associate producer/director of archival research/study guide author) is the Henry Rutgers Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing and a co-founder of A Long Walk Home, Inc.

  • Scheherazade Tillet (production stills photographer) is a co-founder and the executive director of A Long Walk Home, Inc.

  • Giscard Xavier (composer)

  • Tamara L. Xavier (co-producer/director of choreography) is an independent scholar whose performances have been supported by the Black Women's Art Festival, among others, and her research will be included in the forthcoming book Fire Under My Feet: Historical Perspectives on Dance in the African Diaspora edited by Dr. Ofosuwa M. Abiola.

love WITH Accountability: Digging Up Child Sexual Abuse anthology (2019)

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (editor) is a documentary filmmaker, cultural worker, independent scholar, and activist.

Contributors (in attendance)

  • Liz S. Alexander (contributor) is the founder of She Dreams of Freedom Consulting Group (SDFCG).

  • Esther Armah (contributor) is an award-winning Ghanaian global journalist; playwright, lecturer, columnist, radio host, who created the Emotional Justice framework.

  • Luz Marquez-Benbow (contributor) is the founder of the International Alianza de Mujeres Negrx (IamNegrx).

  • Edxie Betts (contributor) is a Black, Blackfeet Indigenous, Pilipinx, TransFeminine, autonomous organizer and insurrectionary cultural worker.

  • Sevonna Brown (contributor) is the associate-executive director of Black Women’s Blueprint.

  • Nicole “Kqueen” Denson (contributor) is theCEO and Founder of MOSAIC Collective Consulting, LLC.

  • Cecelia Falls (contributor) is a writer, poet, and educational consultant working to end sexual violence, particularly childhood sexual abuse, in the African Diaspora.

  • alicia sanchez gill (contributor) is the executive director of The Emergent Fund.

  • Adenike A. Harris (contributor) is a certified integral whole living coach works to help survivors forge empowering relationships, language, actions and behaviors.

  • Ahmad Greene-Hayes (contributor) is the founding director of Children of Combahee.

  • Indira Henard (contributor) is the executive director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center.

  • Tanisha Esperanza Jarvis (contributor) is a healer, scholar and advocate.

  • e nina jay (contributor) is a poet who uses words as ropes to climb toward healing from sexual violence

  • Tonya Lovelace (contributor) is the CEO for the Women of Color Network, Inc.

  • Thea Matthews (contributor) is a poet, scholar, and activist.

  • Chevara Orrin (contributor) is an award-winning diversity and inclusion strategist, social entrepreneur, speaker, and survivor.

  • Mel A. Phillips (contributor) is a victim's advocate, writer, and Artist in Residence at OAASIS

  • Jey’nce Mizrahi Poindexter (contributor) is the first transgender’s victim’s advocate employed by Equality Michigan.

  • Ignacio G. Hutía Xeiti Rivera (contributor) is the founder of The Heal Project.

  • Lynn Roberts (contributor) is an assistant professor and interim assistant dean of student affairs and alumni relations at the City University of New York School of Public Health.

  • Loretta J. Ross (contributor) is a cofounder of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the co-creator, in 1994, of the theory of reproductive justice.

  • Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons (contributor) is a veteran of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a professor emeritus of African American studies and religion at the University of Florida.

  • Farah Tanis (contributor) is the co-founder and executive director of Black Women’s Blueprint who chaired the US Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Black Women and Sexual Assault.

  • Tashmica Torok (contributor) is the founding executive director of The Firecracker Foundation.

Guests Presenters

  • Bahamadia is a pioneering, award-winning hip hop artist, songwriter, and producer.

  • Linda Janet Holmes is a writer (Toni Cade Bambara biographer), independent scholar, curator and long-time women's health activist.

  • Monique S. Howard is the executive director of Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR).

  • Sonia Sanchez is a Poet Laureate. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice.

  • Karen Smith is a master drummer, lead percussionist, and arts educator

Mirror Memoirs

  • Amita Swadhin is the founding executive director of Mirror Memoirs.

African American Museum in Philadelphia

  • James Claiborne is the African American Museum in Philadelphia’s Public Programming Manager.

Just Beginnings Collaborative

  • Lex Draper is JBC’s Interim Program Specialist, and the owner of From Lex With Love & Associates Event Planning.

  • Tynesha McHarris is a member of JBC’s Steering Committee, and a program officer for the NoVo Foundation’s Advancing Adolescent Girls’ Rights initiative.

Leeway Foundation

University of Pennsylvania

  • John L. Jackson, Jr., is the Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and the Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Grace Sanders Johnson is an assistant professor of Africana Studies.

  • Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights.

  • Deborah A. Thomas is the Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology and the director of the Center for Experimental Ethnography.

  • Malik Washington is Interim Director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education

  • Dagmawi Woubshet is the Ahuja Family Presidential Associate Professor of English.