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Teaching nonviolence
(by Matt Blickenstaff - July 07, 2009)
Inside a small gymnasium in the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club, assistant instructor Sam Morrison shouts, “Ichi, ni, san!”
With every call, a dozen young boys fall onto their backs, kick their bare feet in the air and roll back up again. They are learning the first basic move of the martial art aikido.
These barefooted boys at Mathews-Dickey are learning aikido as part of Inner City, Inner Peace, an initiative started by Washington University undergraduate Jacob Siegel to teach nonviolence to young inner-city kids.
“We’re showing them they could respond to violent situations in a different way,” Siegel says.
Aikido was developed in the late 1920s as a way to defend oneself without causing injury to an aggressor. The martial art uses a series of techniques to deflect and counter attacks without offensive strikes.
Siegel started learning aikido a few months ago and the nonviolent philosophy resonated with him. He applied for a Washington University Summer Social Change Grant and enlisted the help of Sacred Sword Aikido Center instructor Gordon Green and his student Morrison to bring aikido’s message of peaceful resistance to those who could benefit from it.
The six-week course for boys and girls wraps up July 24 and is taught as part of Mathews-Dickey’s summer program. The boys and girls practice separately on Mondays and Wednesdays, then meet together on Fridays for nonviolent communication seminars led by Siegel and five volunteer social workers. Siegel calls it “verbal aikido.”
“The goal is to take what the kids learn physically in aikido and make it relevant even in situations where there’s not physical violence,” he says.
While Siegel leads the social work side of things, he leaves the physical instruction to Green and Morrison, who have a combined 22 years of aikido experience. Decked out in a loose white aikido uniform, Siegel practices the falling move alongside the kids in the class.
“I want someone to beat me up,” Morrison says to his tumbling pupils.
The kids hop up, eager to oblige.
“OK, not beat me up, but come back up before I do,” he clarifies. The students race to see if they can fall and get back on their feet before their teacher.
After the boys practice some fundamentals, head instructor Green steps in for the more advanced lessons. With each physical move comes a philosophical lesson.
“Those who are skilled at fighting win by not having to fight. Those who are unskilled fight first and hope they win,” Green says.
Keeping the kids focused is another challenge altogether. A few girls gather outside a window to watch what the boys are doing and Green shoos them away. Kids try to wander off and Morrison has to run after them. To keep their attention, Green and Morrison demonstrate some more advanced moves between lessons.
Green continually draws metaphors between the moves he demonstrates with Morrison and real-world scenarios the students might face. Insults, like punches and kicks, can be deflected too.
It’s about putting yourself in an “unassailable position” he says. He says he hopes to give these kids the self-confidence they need to react appropriately to instigators.
“Say Sam comes up to me and says, ‘I don’t like your attitude or your bald head, you big old bald punk man,’” Green says before he deflects a blow from Morrison to illustrate his point. “Well, you see, that’s not too effective.”
“Yeah, because you’re bald too,” shouts Xavier, one of the kids. Both Green and Morrison sport shaved heads.
Green knows a lot about what these kids are going through. He grew up in the same neighborhood and he came to Mathews-Dickey as a kid. He faced the same challenges with bullies and violence.
Ultimately, those experiences brought him to aikido.
At the end of the six weeks, the goal is to instill the students with enough self-confidence and discipline to avoid destructive confrontations.
“I can’t make them master of martial arts,” Green says. “What I can do hopefully is give them other options. If you have a good stance, if you know who you are, you’re powerful.”
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