A Conversation with Aishah Shahidah Simmons

The Myth of Black Women's Progress:
A Conversation with Activist and Filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons
by Tamara K. Nopper

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is the director of NO!, a feature length documentary that unveils the reality of intra-racial rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities. It has taken Simmons eleven years to complete NO! because of a lack of support from various funders and mixed responses, including those from the Black community. But because of consistent support from some and a growing amount of support from both Blacks and non-Blacks, NO! was finally completed in 2005. Now Simmons is putting her efforts into getting the film out there. She sits down with writer Tamara K. Nopper to talk about how Black women are situated in the contemporary conversation of the “crisis facing Black men,” and how this informs how Black women’s experiences of rape and sexual assault are addressed.

“We can never talk about the rape of Black women. Black women’s issues can’t ever be central.”

Read the Full Conversation at Black Agenda Report