Tamara K. Nopper’s Testimonial on NO!
March 20, 2008
“When I attended a fundraising event for NO! in New York several years ago, I watched an African American woman scholar artistically explore her survival of sexual assault. As a graduate student who has spent most of my professional life in academia, I had by that time observed how badly Black women are treated at all levels of the university. And I knew that this treatment was not isolated to academic spaces. Having seen, listened, and read about how Black women are racistly and sexistly perceived by men, women, and children of all races and sexualities, I was familiar with many of the themes in NO! Perhaps this is why I had such an emotional political response to watching this Black woman scholar talk about her sexual assault. I knew it was a great risk for her to draw attention to how she was attacked when racist and sexist imagery of Black women declares that they are unable to be violated because they are supposedly over-sexual. And having been in front of a classroom myself, I know that students pick you apart, watch your body, and judge you at every turn. Most students evaluate non-white teachers–and particularly Black teachers–with no remorse, and often in sexualized ways. So to watch a Black woman scholar demand documentation of her pain, to draw attention to her body, to tell her side of the story was simply…everything in the world. This is what NO! does: along with sharing the powerful stories of those in the film, it creates a space for those of us watching it to locate ourselves. In the process, NO! forces you on an emotional and political roller coaster ride. In my case, I left that fundraiser knowing I could no longer act as if what I knew I did not know, and what I saw I did not see. That’s perhaps the most beautiful and scary part of viewing NO!–once you watch it, there is no turning back.”
Tamara K. Nopper, educator and writer
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By N2H
