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No One is Free While Others are Oppressed: An AfroLezfemcentric Journey

by Aisha Shahdidah Simmons

tiF.t.IEVE I WAS PRF.nflSTINED t o b e c o m e a

black feminist lesbian activist who tises cultural work to make radical progressive social change irresistible. My divorced parents Michael W'. Simmons and Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons (aka Gwendolyn Delores Robinson Simmons) have been consistently engaged iu local, national, and international human rights struggles since the mid-sixties when they were on the frontlines of SNCC, {Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee*) actively engaged in the struggle to register black people to vote, organizing freedom schools, and non-violent resistance to US state sanctioned terrorism that black people in the Sotith lived under on a daily basis. In 1964, my mother became the Director of a COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) * project in Latuel, Mississippi.' To the best of my mother's knowledge she was one of two women COFO project directors during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. She remained project director for eighteen mouths. During this same time my father was a foot soldier in the SNCC West Helena, Arkansas project. After their tenures in both Laurel, Mississippi and West Helena, Arkansas, my parents met when they lx>tli began working for SNCC in Atlanta, Georgia where tliey were at the forefront, with many others, of the Julian Bond re-election campaign to reinstate him to tlie Georgia State Legislature. After the success of tlie campaign, my parents, along with others including Donald Stone, Dwight Williams, Bill Ware, Larry Fox, Bob Moore, Efia Nwangaza (Margaret Mills), Cx>nnie Henderson, Askia Toure, and John Bell were involved with the transformation of
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the SNCC-sponsored Julian Bond re-election headquarters to the SNCC Atlanta Project, where among many things, the historic Black Consciousness Paper* was developed and written. AISHA SHAHDIDAH SIMMONS A few years later my father was incarcerated for thirty months for his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. And in 1979, my mother was a memher of the first American NGO (nongovernmental organization) delegation, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, to go into Vietnam and Cambodia after the ^

\TR THE PAST FORTY YEARS, my p a r e n t s

have been involved in numerous movements and struggles to bring about peace and justice for oppressed and marginalized people living in the United States and throughout the world. Presently my mother is a feminist Islamic scholar and activist whose research, writings, and activism focuses on women's human rights under Islamic law. My father has been actively involved in tbe Roma (Gypsy) Human Rights movements and the international movements to end trafficking of women and children. His activism and work has beeu focused in Eastern Europe where he is currendy based. My
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parents were definitely my immediate role models. 1 literally grew up going to demonstrations against anything that was right of center of the political landscape. I also attended countless conferences, which focused on a myriad of topics on, but not limited to Black Power, Women's Rights, US foreign policy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Growing up, 1 had two simultaneous education plans. One plan was the formal education provided by the School District of Philadelphia. The other probably more important education plan was the one that was taught through the lives that my parents and by direct extension I lived. Wiile my parents' independent journeys, called "life," are very admirable in my eyes, I don't want to prioritize their journeys over my/our ancestors jourtieys because we are descendants of a long line of race women and men who have long standing his/herstories of fighting against racial, gender, and class oppression. 1 am very clear, as aie my parents, that their activism is a direct result of their parents, atmts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents journeys called lifeLucy Coldsby, Hattic Goldsby Temple, John Temple, Rhoda Bt'll Tt-mple Robinson Hudson Douglas, Wliitney Simmons, Alice Bostic Simmons, John W. Simmons, Jackson Waldo White, Sr. Maggie Pagen Wiiile, Major Robinson, Jessie Neal Htidson, Mattie Garrett Cranford. Rebecca Garrett Wilson, Juanita Oanford Robinson Watson, Charlie Brown, Mattie Simmons Brown, Ollie B. Smith, W'esley Cranford, Rebecca White Simmons Chapman, Willie L. Chapman, Helen White, Jack White, Jr.who were not activists in the traditional sense diat we tend to think about today. However, the aforementioned women and men wet e survivors of US instittuional racism, sexism, and cla.ssism, which prevented tlieni from receiving the forma! educatioti they each strongly desired. And yet, in spite of this grotesque reality in their lives, these women and men not only persevered in altnost everything they set out to accomplish, but also many of them made his/herstory in spite of their formal educational deficiencies.

Y MOTHER was tlie first self-defined feminist that I knew. I would definitely say that based on how they lived their lives, my grandmothers and aunts were feminists, thotigh they never used that term to describe themselves. Throtighotu my childhood, my mother was always explicitly clear we must always fight for women's equal rights while fighting for the rights of black people. During my childhood and yotitb, my mothei" shared with me her personal experiences with violent attempted rapes committed against her when she was a student at Spelnian college and when she was involved with SNCC. She wotild always talk about the irony of having to fight against sexual harasstneiit and attempted rape from some of her male comrades in SNCC while simultaneously working with them, under the serious threat of death, to fight against racial injustice in tlie United States. Under her directorship of the Laurel Project*, based on what she both experienced and wimessed in SNCC, she instituted a strict sexual harassment policy thatfirmlystated, "NO sextial abuse of any kind would be tolerated. And any infringement of that would be grounds for being expelled fi-om the project." Based on my mother's enforced polic)', she developed tlie reputation of being an "Amazon," which meant, "She didn't take any shit, especially ofT of men!" Because of her reputiition, tlie laurel Project wa.s referred to as T h e Amazon Project."

ORE FREQUENTLY I H A N NOT my mother was at the forefront of discussions and struggles in the black liberation movement to raise the Lssue of sexism and women's equal rights. And within predominantly white feminist movements, she was at the forefiont of discussions and struggles to raise the is.sue of racism and its impact on black people and other people of colot. All of her adult life, my motlier, like most black women living iti Ainerica, has walked and walks the thin line of simultaneously fighting against racial and gender oppression. Her experiences and perspectives played an important role in how I saw myself in the world. I have been consciously procboice/pro women's reproductive freedom since I was ten years old. I have called myself a feminist since I was a teenager. I never ever saw women's rights in contradiction to black libPage 55

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eration. I always thought that both were necessary and that you could not have one without the other. My father was the first man I knew who championed women's rights and the rights of lesbians and gays. All of my and Tyree Cinque's (my brother) lives, he taught us that when it comes to the issue of rape and sexual assault, a woman never ever loses the right to say, "no," even during the act of sexual intercourse. He was and is explicitly clear that even if a woman initially says, "yes" and she then changes her mind, that all men have an obligation not only to stop but to not put pressure on the woman. My father takes the position that men have an obligalioii and responsibility to take up with issues ot rape, sexual assault, and other forms of violence against women with other men. He taught my brother and me that ending violence against women should not be a women's issue, it should be an issue and a cause that men take up.

sister, my friend for five years up until her physical transition. And I believe that we are sdll in dialogue in the Spirit world. Both of these women, their existence, and their work created a path for me to use the moving image and the written word to bring about radical progressive social change in this country and beyond. Wiien I asked if it were possible if I, a black woman, could be a filmmaker, Toni C^ade Bambara, most specifically, directly, and concretely was the first woman who told me, "Yeab, of course, yon can be a filnnnaker!" Her response was like, "Please, are you breathing?" This was followed by her gi\ing a roll call of the names of approximately eighty-four Diasporic African women filmmakers. Toni tben told me to come to a scriptwriting class that she was teaching at Scribe Video Center.'' And when I asked her how much did it cost, and this is when 1 was twenty years old, she said, "I didn t ask if you if you had any money, I told you to come to my class."

H E N I w.\s EIGHTEEN, in my senior year in high school, struggling with my sexuality, my father asked Cheryl Dowton, an out black lesbian to talk to me abotit being a lesbian. My father didn't want me to think that being a lesbian was a bad ihing. Equally as important he didn't want me to think that becoming a lesbian would mean that I would have to give up my raciiil identity. So it was extremely important to bim that 1 have the opportunity to talk with a black lesbian about all of my questions, anxieties and fears. Even though it was three years from that time until I finally came out, baving the (jpportunity to talk with Cheryl enabled me to literally see that black and lesbian were not contradictory idendties. In addition to my biological family, two women who are not related to me by blood have also profoundly influenced me, and I am connected to tbem tbrougb Spirit. These two women, one whom I never mei and one who became very, very instrumental in my life transformed meAudre Lorde,^ tbe .selfdetlned black feminist, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet; and Toni Cade Bambara,* the black feminist, ctiltiiral worker, screenwriter, author, who was my teacher, my mentor, my
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HF. FOLLOWING YEAR, when I was twentyone years old finally coming to terms with the fact tbat I was a lesbian and that I could no longer keep it a secret from myself foremost, and the world secondarily, I called Toni several times and talked to her about my internal struggle, my fears of rejection, isolation, and alienation. Toni listened to me. She affirmed me. She encouraged me to be true to my spirit and myself witbout regard for what anyone else thought, said, and or wanted. One night during this turbulent time period in my life, Toni and I had a six-hour phone conversation that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. We talked about everythingsexual politics, films, the Harlem Renaissance, my rape, which resulted in my pregnancy from which I was fortunate to have a safe and legal abortion, why I dropped out of college after two unproductive years at both Swarthmore College and Temple University, future books she planned to write, her fiftieth birthday party in Atlanta in 1989. male-female relationships, femalefemale relationships, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the importance of friendships. During this conversation, Toni taught me two of many invaluable lessons, one, that the word sistah
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was both a noun and a verb and two, that the responsihility of the artist/cultural worker is to use their art/cultural work to make revolution irresistible. During that same time I read Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. Prior to reading that book, I didn't really know about Audre Lorde or her groundbreaking work. Audre Lorde's words both invigorated and challenged me to break the vicious cycle of silence and shame aiound being a lesbian. I was literally transformed in my bedroom while reading Sister Outsider. I devoured every single word as if my very life depended upon it. It was as if Audre Lorde were speaking directly to me. In that book, she addressed all of my issues and concerns. Her written words taught me that I had a responsihility not only to be out I)ut to be engaged in the international stiuggles of the oppressed as an out black lesbian. I know a metaphysical transformation happened where I went from being an aihud, frightened, and asbamed black lesbian young woman, to an out black lesbian activist after reading Sister Outsider. I am keenly awaie that the metaphysical transformation diat occurred was a gradual process tliat began with my father's ongoing support, which commenced with his arranging for me to meet and talk with Cheryl Dowton as well as the conversations that I had with Toni. And yet, at the same time, Audre Lorde's words gave me the initial tools that I needed to embark on my journey as im out black feminist lesbian. N C EIM A D E PFACE with my lesbian identixy. I was able to focus my attention on my life's work. Since the early nineties, I have had a deep and profound appreciation Ibr and understanding of the critical need to shed light on controversial and ignored stibjects within black communities, vvithout reinforcing stereotypes. My goal with my work is to vistially engage audiences while educating them and encouraging them to work towards eradicating racism, sexism, and homophobia, in all of tbeir violent manifestations. I chose film/video as my medium and tool to make progressive spiritual social change irresisdhle because we live in an age where people are inundated with images, the majority of which are both directly and indirectly manufactured by a handful of global
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corporations.' Very tinfortunately, the overwhelming majority of these images either completely ignore the majority of lhe world's human inhabitants or they reinforce negative stereotypes of the majority of the world's htiman inhabitants. VW O R K TO D A T E focuses on the lives and experiences of black women. Ulien I think about whom I'm communicating to through the camera lens my primary audience is the African-American community first and foremost, and then secondarily, Diasporic African communities worldwide. I know, based on demonstrated experience, that my work has universal appeal because it has been screened to racially and ethnically diverse atidiences across the United States, throughout Europe and in Soutli Africa. But in terms of whom I'm talking to throtigh the camera lens, it is black people, specifically black women and girls. I am committed to aurally and visually making our lives and our issues central, not on the margins. I started working in media in 1992 when I was a co-producer of two monthly public television programsOut of the CImet (Voices from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender [LGBT] communities in the Delaware Valley) and OA^.' Sistahs (Voices from women of African descent in the Americas)for WYBE-TV35, a PBS affiliate in Philadelphia. All of the co-producers on Out of the Closet were LGB people of Color and all of the coproducers of ON! Sistahs were Diapsoric African women from the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These shows, which I coproduced for three years while working a full-time "day" job as a media assistant at the American Friends Service Committee, provided the aural-visual space for viewing audieuces throughout the Delaware Valley to experience the voices, perspectives, cultural work, and activism of communities of people who have her/histories of being marginalized ajid sidelined by the mainstream media. During this same time period, I also independently produced two video shorts. In 1993,1 produced, wTote and directed myfirstindejiendent work, which was conceived in a Toni Cade Bambara scriptwriting workshop at Scribe Video Center. Silence...Broken is an experimenPage 57

tal narrative short abotu an African-American lesbian's refusal to be silent abotit racism, sexism and homophobia. Featuring tlie poetry of acclaimed poet [ourdan Imani Keith, tliis video is dedicated to the memory of Audre Lorde, who died in 1992 after a fourteen-year battle with breast cancer diat metastasized to her liver. I created Silence...Broken out of my personal need to see on .screen the internal and external .strtiggic black lesbians go throtigh when they constantly fight against choosing between their race, their gender and their sextiaiitv in a raci.st, sexist and homophobic societ). Silence...Broken is strongly influenced by the late award-winning filmmaker Mailon Riggs's masterpiece Tongues Untied about black gay men.'' This is most evident in the juxtaposition of Jourdan Imani Keith performing her poem " Wliich Stripe Am 1?" against hoth literal and metaphorical images; and the use of looped spoken word as sotindti"ack.

tant to show images of black fathers and brothers as nurttirers and supporters. I believe In My Father's House is extremely important because it challenges the racist myth that black Americans are more homophobic than any other racial/ethnic/cultural group. It also challenges the sexist myth that relationships between fathers and daughters are not as important as relationships between fathers and sons. 1 made In My Father's House to be a part of a continuum of alternative images that have been and are created by black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media makers in response to the homophobic, racist, and/or sexist images that either ignore or ridicule the experiences of black LGBT people

N 1996, 1 prodticed and directed my second short. In A/y I'cither's House, which is my black feminist lesbian exploration of my coming out process through self-reflection, and candid conversations with my father, my sixteen-year-old brother, and my best friend from high school. This video not only shows glimpses of interactions between father and daughter, sister and brother, and two best friends from high school, but delves into hoih the trauma and joy of the coming out |jrocess as well as emphasizing the importance of supporting one's child, sibling, or friend during their journey to define their own sextiality...their own identity. In the documentary short, I reveal how my internalized homophobia combined with homophobia in societ)' played a role in my rape, subsequent pregnancy and safe and legal abortion. I made In My Father's House because too often I've heard so many hard and negative stories about people coming out, and those were/are very real as I know from my own first-hand experiences. However, I wanted to give an alternative vision, based on my reality, of bow family members and friends could respond in a stipportive libratory Sister Outsider paternalistic way when a loved one or friend comes otit as LGBT. I also thought that it was very imporPage 58

that if you're a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender and of African descent, that you're not a part of the black community, that you want to live a white-identified life, that you don't have an understanding of racism, or that you're not committed to the struggle for black liberation in the United States and throughotu the world. And the flip side of the coin is the racist notion that there aren't any black gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people. My short videos, most partictilarly Silence...Broken really challenge those homophobic and racist stereotypes. Silence...Broken specifically says is that I'm not going to choose between my race, my gender, or my sexuality. This experimental video briefiy delves into the impact of the intersections of racial, gender, and sexual identities on the lives of black lesbians. This is evident in the use metaphorical imagery from the book covers of Sister Outsider (Atidre Lorde)
HERE'S THIS HOMOPHOBIC NOTION

When and Where I Enter (Paula Giddings), The Black Woman (Toni Cade Bambara}, Race-ing Justice, Engender-ing Poxver (Toni Morrison), Talking Feminist, Thinking Black (bell hooks),

and Backlash (Susan Faludi). This is underscored at tlie end of the video where the subject, who is myself (an African-American Woman Lesbian) thinks out loud "I Am African-American. Respect Me. I Am Woman. Respect Me. I Am Lesbian. Respect Me. I Am Whole."

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N 1994, under auspices of the International Election Commission, I was the yoimgest member of the American Friends Service Committee's official delegation to observe the "first and free non-racial" elections in the Republic of South Africa. There was some cosmic symmetry with that life changing experience where I turned twentyfive in Cape Town, South Africa, because it was exactly thirty years after my mother went to Laurel, Mississippi to register disenfranchised and terrorized black people to vote. In addition to observing tbe elections in which Nelson Mandela became president, I met with activists who were engaged in a boycott of the elections. Additionally, I met witb grassroots feminist activists and scholar activist feminists as well as LGBT activists who had been acdvely involved in tbe struggles to end legalized apartheid. Many of these women and men were incarcerated and were tortured for the stances they took against apartheid. One of the many sistahactivists gave me a poster that reads "One of the most violent social settings in South Africa is in the home." In 1994, black South African women ^vere rejoicing about tbe end of legal apartheid wbile expressing serious concern about sexism and misogyny. Receiving that poster in the midst of the celebrations tbat tbe ANC won the elections changed my life. Prior to that moment, I never thotiglit about gender oppression when I thought about the violence that my black and colored South African brothers and sisters experienced under the vicious apartheid laws. Even with my black feminist upbringing, I only .saw oppression in South Africa through a racial lens. My experiences with ihe feminist scholar activists and grassroots feminist acti\ists in South Africa, combined witb my being a survivor of incest and rape, along with the my mother's herstory as a survivor, and my father's position on violence against women, led me on the path to create my next project. In the fall of 1994, Tamara L. Xavier and I had our very first pre-production meeting about a documentary project I had envisioned titled, NO.' This project would focus on tbe collective silence in the black community when black women and girls are laped
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and sexually assaulted, physically and/or verbally by black men and boys about rape and sexual assault in the black community. When Tamara heard me talk about this project that I wanted to create, she expressed an interest in "helping" me with ;V0.'We held our meeting on the infamous SEPTA/New Jersey Transit commuter train ride to New York to attend a meeting at the home of lifelong friends, comrades, and Spirit family, Rosemari Mealy and Sam Anderson. We were twenty-three and twenty-five years old, Haitian-American and African-American, heterosexual and lesbian. Tamara and I had been co-workers at the American Friends Service Committee, our previous employer. We were friendly acquaintances who were working on developing a friendship tbat is still strong twelve years later. On our way to New York, we shared our herstories, talked about our visions for the future and begaii jotting down notes about NO! Tamara's "helping" me has evolved into her becoming a Co-Prodncer and the Director of C^horeograpby of NO! Our commitment and Journey to make NO! a celluloid reality is what solidified our foundation and our commitment to Journey through our respective lives as sistahs, comrades, and friends. AKING NO! has been one of the most challenging, life altering experiences I have had in my Hfe thus far. The number-one major obstacle that I experienced with making NO! was in tbe form of economic resistance from both institutional and individual sources. What was both cballenging and sobering was when I realized that a feature length documentary on the rape and sexual assault of black women and girls was not \iewed as a funding priority by many institutions and individuals. And this painful reality crossed racial lines. As a result of the intense fiuidraising struggle, I grew as a grassroots activist because I had to resort to other forms of fundraising than tbe traditional route. I have become a stronger and better human being as a result of this alternative fiuidraising strateg)' because I was forced to think outside of the box. I developed a grassroots international biack feminist lesbian-led educational fundraising campaign.
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N ITS WORK-IN-PROGRESS FORMATS, NO!

has

been translated into both French and Italian. This translation work was done on a volunteer basis by grassroots European and Diasporic African and Arab feminist lesbian and queer women based in France and in Italy because diey wanted NO! to be accessible to Europeanbased women who did not speak English. I have witnessed how NO! has been used and continties to be used, as a work-in-progress, as a powerfiil educatioiiiU activist tool. To date, at each screening at least one woman or girl has disclosed to me personally or to the entire NO! viewing audience that she has experienced some form of sexual violence. I have had yoting white American women tell me that prior to seeing NO! they didn't know tliat black women could be raped. I have had black men and boys tell me that NO! forced them to rethink their thinking patterns and behavior towards black women and girls. I have had European women tell me, through an interpreter, that the testimonies in NO! are their testimonies even though the women are not European and do not speak tlieir modier tongtie. I believe this is boiii a testament to tlie power of Alricau-Ainerican women's herstory and contemporary reality as well as a comment on the sol>ering reality of the universality oi' rape and odier forms of sexual violence. It is also very important to note that I did receive numerous grants from commimitybased women's and lesbian foundations and funds, many of whom do not have a his/herstory of funding media projects. Their instittitional support proved to be invaluable. Tlie institutions and individuals who have .supported me include feminists of all races, but definitely black feminists, feminists of color, and aie primarily based in the United States and tliroughout Europe.. And, in the latter years of NOF^ incubation, progressive anti-sexist black and a few white heterosexual and gay men have stepped up to tlie plate to support NO! These men, to quote my brother Sulaiman Nuriddin, ;ue "defectors to the patriarchy," [sic].

2005 barely two months shy of the eleventh anniversary of my and Tamara's first pre-production meeting in October 1994. Through testimonies from black women survivors, acclaimed African-American women and men scholars and activists, impactful archival footage, spirited music, dance, and performance poetry, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence. Sister Outsider healing in African-American communities.'

Y VISION A N DM Y GOAL for NO! was for black women and men to address rape and otlier forms of sexual violence in our nonmonolithic community. I want all viewers, but most especially black viewers, to see black women as victim survivors of rape and other forms of sexual violence and as activists, scholars and experts. Equally as important, A'O.'viewers see black men as staunch advocates against rape and sexual violence. Many of the feauired men are on the frondines of the anti-violence against violence movement. I believe NO! has the power to challenge if not transform people's diinkiug itbout heterosexual riipc and sexual assault as well as the negative impact of the intersections of oppression on the lives of black women who are survivors of sexual violence. It is an absolute privilege to be able to choose to be a documentary filmmaker/ctilttiral worker. It is a privilege that so miuiy women and men died for. I strongly believe that since I had the privilege to become a filmmaker, I bave a re.sponsibility and an obligation to use my creativity to bring about radical progressive social change because I am metaphorically standing in the blood of people who gave their lives so that I could be here today. Works Cited
Toni Cade Bambara, ed.. The Black Woman: An Anlhotogy (New York: Washington Square Press, 1970). Susan Faludi, Backlash (New York: Crown Publishers, 1991). Paula Giddings, When and WAere I Enter: The Impact of Btark Womtni on Race and Sex in America (New York: William .Morrow. 1984). bell hooks. Talking Feminisi, Thinking Black (Cambridge, MA; South End Press, 1989). Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Berkeley: Cro.ssing Press Feminist Series, 1984).

VER THE YEAR.S, NO! has grown and evolved significantly from an eightminute work in progress to a completed ninety-four-minute documentary. The documentary was officially completed in August
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Toni Morrison, ed., Racf-ingjustice, Engpuler-higPower:Essays on Anila Hill. Clarmre I'htmas. and lhe Conslrurtion of

SodaiRfttlily (New\brk; Panaieoii Books, 1992)

Endnotes
1. CoLincil of Fcderaled Oigariizaiioti was made up oi' four organizations working lo achieve racial equality in the United States. The organizations were SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Commiltee), SCLC (Sotithfrn Chtisiiaii Ix-atlership Conference), CORE (Congress on Racial F-quality), and NA.\CP (Nadonal Association for ihe Advanccmeni of (Colored People). 2. The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, AFSC's work attracts the support and parttiership of pt^ople of many races, religiotis, and cultures. The organiiration accepted tbe Nobel Peace Prize with the British Friends Service Council on behalf of all Quakers in 1947. 3. Audre Lorde published ten volumes of poeiry and Jive works of prose, ituhiding Sister Outside; Xami: A New .Spelling of My \'amr. The Cancer Journah. A Burst of Light, and Our Dead Behind Vs. (www.englisb.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lorde/larde.htm). 4. Toni Cade Bambara (1939-1995) is the editor and author of acclaimed work.s such a.s Thf Black Womuti (1970), Gorilla. My Love (1972) and Thf Sail Enlms (1980). A noted documentary filmmaker and scn-t nwriter, Bambara s film work inchides the docimientaries The Bombing of Osage Avenue {\986) and WE.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices (1995). www.edwardsly.com/bamhcra.htm [sic]. 5. Scribe Video Center, a Phi lade tphia-based non-prolit organization, was fonndfd in 19S2, by award-winning documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah, as a place where people could work togetber and gain skills in media making. Scribe Video Center seeks to explore, develop and advance the use of video as an artistic medium and as a tool for progressive social change. www.scrihe.org 6. Marlon T. Riggs (1957-1994) was an aw^ard-winiiing black gay filmmaker, lecturer and teacber who was based in the Bay Area in California. He produced and directed award-winning documentaries, incltiding Ethnic. Notions (1987), Tongues Untied (1988), Coior Adjustment (1989), and Black !s...Black Airi'l (1994). Riggs tiiugbt documentary film at tbe C.raduate Scbool of |ournalism at the Lniversity of California, Berkelt-y. www.museum.tv/archive.s/etv/R/ h I m! R/ riggsm arlon / Hggsmarlon. htm. 7. For more detailed information on NO!, In My Father's House, or Silence...Broken, please contact Aishah Shahidah Simmons at AfroLez Productions, LLC, PO Box .58085, Phiiadeiphia, PA 19102-808.ii. Tbe Official NO! wt-hsite is: www.XOtheRapeDoctimentiuy.org

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