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I’ve already read what some of you have written about violent situations. As a martial artist, my path is one of maintaining peace, but as we all know, sometimes “shiet happens” and we must utilize our well honed skills. Here’s an incident that happened about two summers ago.
Kansas City, KS — South Mill Road projects in late August 2001
My cousin had moved to Kansas a few years ago with his family to take a job. I thought it would be nice to visit, so several hours later I found myself in the middle of a multi-racial projects area. My cousin had not come back from work yet, so my nephews and I were tossing a football on their front lawn. It was then that I noticed that two drooping guys were fast approaching us. The oldest one looked about 18 or 19 and came right up to me. He said that the football belonged to his younger brother who was also present. I quickly justified that it must be a mistake, but the guy insisted that my nephews stole it. I thought the situation was pretty ludicrous, afterall, we were arguing about a football. Needless to say, my blood was starting to boil as well. I told the guy plainly that I wasn’t going to have this discussion and that my nephews and I were going inside. Suddenly, the guy tackled me to the ground, but as we rolled, his momentum allowed me to kick him off of me. Back on two legs, the punk tried to box me from a safe distance. I feinted a jab and threw a stepping side kick which landed exactly where I had hoped — his stomach. He didn’t throw much after that. I threw a few low kicks to get his attention, then rushed forward with a straight lead which caught his ear as he turned away. A loud voice caught my attention as I noticed that one of the guys had returned with an older guy. The old guy came running while cussing like no tomorrow. He kept his distance but told me that he had just gotten out of prison. I was thinking, “this is supposed to invoke fear on my part?” Then he darted towards me throwing wild punches, but I jammed him with a stop kick and threw a wild left cross into his flinging arms. I caught one in the lip in the exchange, but managed a sloppy hip throw sending both of us to the ground. I more or less fell on him and started whacking the guy until his nose bled. Then the other guy kicked my ribs and I got up to chase him. The old guy then got up and apologized. He said he wanted me to teach him “karate.” I didn’t say anything, just went indoors to ice my lip and recover.
The whole incident happened in less than 10 minutes, although it seemed like forever. When my cousin came home, I told him what happened and he said that things like that happened a lot there. Feel free to share your stories.
Kansas City, KS — South Mill Road projects in late August 2001
My cousin had moved to Kansas a few years ago with his family to take a job. I thought it would be nice to visit, so several hours later I found myself in the middle of a multi-racial projects area. My cousin had not come back from work yet, so my nephews and I were tossing a football on their front lawn. It was then that I noticed that two drooping guys were fast approaching us. The oldest one looked about 18 or 19 and came right up to me. He said that the football belonged to his younger brother who was also present. I quickly justified that it must be a mistake, but the guy insisted that my nephews stole it. I thought the situation was pretty ludicrous, afterall, we were arguing about a football. Needless to say, my blood was starting to boil as well. I told the guy plainly that I wasn’t going to have this discussion and that my nephews and I were going inside. Suddenly, the guy tackled me to the ground, but as we rolled, his momentum allowed me to kick him off of me. Back on two legs, the punk tried to box me from a safe distance. I feinted a jab and threw a stepping side kick which landed exactly where I had hoped — his stomach. He didn’t throw much after that. I threw a few low kicks to get his attention, then rushed forward with a straight lead which caught his ear as he turned away. A loud voice caught my attention as I noticed that one of the guys had returned with an older guy. The old guy came running while cussing like no tomorrow. He kept his distance but told me that he had just gotten out of prison. I was thinking, “this is supposed to invoke fear on my part?” Then he darted towards me throwing wild punches, but I jammed him with a stop kick and threw a wild left cross into his flinging arms. I caught one in the lip in the exchange, but managed a sloppy hip throw sending both of us to the ground. I more or less fell on him and started whacking the guy until his nose bled. Then the other guy kicked my ribs and I got up to chase him. The old guy then got up and apologized. He said he wanted me to teach him “karate.” I didn’t say anything, just went indoors to ice my lip and recover.
The whole incident happened in less than 10 minutes, although it seemed like forever. When my cousin came home, I told him what happened and he said that things like that happened a lot there. Feel free to share your stories.
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