from the December, 2011 issue of Kiai!

Taking Ownership:
Self-Defense at Perspectives Leadership Academy

By Anne Warshaw
Perspectives Leadership Academy, Instructor

“If it was a white person it would have been all over the news!” shouted a student towards Alderman Latasha Thomas’s chief of staff. The anger and passion in the student’s statement was warranted considering a fellow classmate had recently been abducted and sexually assaulted at gun point inside a van a few feet from our far South Side, Auburn-Gresham neighborhood school. The incident took place at 7:45 am, a high traffic time for students walking to school.

News of the tragedy reached students and staff when they were given a newsletter to send home to parents informing them of the incident, but no official alert was made by the police in the community. Following the assault, students did not see an increase in police presence or their alderman, nor was their story in the news.

I have the extraordinary privilege of teaching the scholars (students) at Perspectives Leadership Academy (PLA) about gender equity in a women and gender studies course. Because of the nature of the course, this very urgent topic fit within our narrative. The students wrote letters to the alderman’s office expressing their frustration for their lack of action. Each letter was filled with angst and more importantly, a tone of heavy disappointment. After some brainstorming with Ben McKay, Dean of Student Support, we decided that we could no longer allow the students to wallow in disappointment and fear. We needed to provide them a space to express their feelings about the incident and to start a conversation about taking ownership of our neighborhood.

While attending graduate school at Roosevelt University, I had the pleasure of taking a self-defense class presented by Kate Webster, Thousand Waves’ Manager of Violence Prevention Programs. I really loved the language of the course, especially how it avoided victim blaming and stresseds individual and community empowerment. The course focused on how to own your space and to do so safely. I immediately thought of Thousand Waves when speaking with staff about continuing the conversation with students. I knew that students would appreciate having tools to protect themselves if they were to be attacked by a stranger or someone they knew.  I reached out to Thousand Waves and quickly received an enthusiastic and supportive reply! 

Within days, Kate Webster met with over 65 students in the school at a forum held for students to discuss their frustrations, angst, sadness, concern, etc. The forum went extraordinarily well and demonstrated how the scholars were no longer willing to sit by and allow their neighborhood to be run by those without their best interest in mind. The conversation was geared towards solutions. Future meetings and forums were scheduled, giving students the understanding that this was not over. Thousand Waves was one of the immediate solutions presented to our students, as Kate agreed to provide an introduction course on self-defense the following week!  Students present left the meeting excited to participate in a workshop geared toward supporting their ability to walk home empowered.

PLA is elated to have started a partnership with Thousand Waves. The presence of Kate Webster at the scholar forum confirmed to students that we as individuals can change the way we interact within our neighborhood. Twenty- eight scholars attended the self-defense course on November 4th and each scholar left smiling and talking about the lessons and tools they gained.  Students were able to ask important questions and bond with one another in holistically fighting the fear imposed upon them in their own community.  Although one self-defense course is not the ultimate solution, it is one piece to the puzzle of empowerment, which means a great deal to our young people.