Over the past few years there’s been a significant jump in hate crimes. That includes those against the LGBTQ+ community, which account for nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes.
To counter those statistics, and to help community members feel safer, FitPower, a gym in Milwaukee has begun hosting self-defense workshops.
"We wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t fear based," says gym owner Jessica Sunier. "We also [wanted to do it] in a way that worked with the communities that mattered to us most."
Sunier says the community she’s talking about — the community this class is for — are queer and trans people.
"With the political climate as it is, and having actually been threatened in public before, I just want to be prepared, unfortunately to defend myself and defend my community if I have to," says class participant Nyreesha Williams.
Williams has been assaulted before. So have her friends. So this isn’t a hypothetical for her.
"The reason why I came here today is ... I wanted to find a way to keep myself safe and protect my comrades," says participant Maddie O'Connell and MATC media student. "And especially being in the media with the violence towards the media right now."
O’Connell says she's been bullied in her past and pushed around while documenting protests.
Tonight’s class has about 20 people in it with most of the class coming from local organizations like, Sun-Seeker MKE and Trans Liberation MKE.
After Sunier addresses the participants, they're told to partner off. They sit ten-feet across from each other on the gym's jiu jitsu mats. They find out they’re about to start walking like a crab.
"The only stipulation with this is your belly has to be facing the ceiling the whole time so you can’t roll over, you can’t flip to the mat," says tonight's teacher, Oswin Tyrann. "You can use all four limbs, you can use your butt, you can use your elbows. Whatever you need to get to the other side."
Tyrann is a coach at the gym and has been a jiu jitsu practitioner for almost a decade. They say that this move is the foundation for learning how to grapple and potentially fend off an attack.
"It’s a really fundamental move that we learn in a lot self-defense and especially jiu jitsu practices," Tyann says. "It’s essentially learning how to move without the use of your limbs or being able to rotate your body without having to go your belly to the ground."
The goal here is to practice “framing” — that’s where someone is on their back and uses their arms and legs as a way to create space from an opponent.
Maddie O'Connell picks it right up.
"It reminds me how my friends would accidentally land on me in roller derby and we’d be like, ‘Whose leg is that?’"
Nyreesha Williams says the professionals make it look effortless, but she's coming along.
"It looks easier when the MMA fighters are doing it on TV but we’re doing OK so far," Williams says.
I ask her if she feels more dangerous?
"Not quite yet," she says. "Maybe in a few more minutes."
Tyrann brings the group back together for a skill that can terrify every demographic of person: conversations.
"Primarily, we’re trying to mimic being in a larger crowded area, so protest, club, whatever but what we’re going to ask them after this is essentially if they noticed anything happening in the room," says Tyrann. "[Like], how many exits are in the gym, how many people are in the gym, did you notice them doing anything."
At this point, the class is warmed up. The earlier nervous energy is now just energy waiting to be directed.
The class starts to get active as they move into grip work, which is disengaging from someone grabbing you. The wrist breaks level up to include a chopping motion as the movements get bigger and more aggressive.
"It’s getting dangerous," Williams says. "We’re getting close to red threat level, like threat level midnight."
Gym owner, Jessica Sunier, checks in with some of the groups. She's correcting techniques and sharing encouraging words.
She says this gym happened by accident back in 2011. Gym culture, and jiu jitsu gyms can be toxic places and very unsafe places for women, queer and trans people.
"There’s a really big need for, specifically, marginalized groups to feel like they can play," Sunier says. "They’re playing and they’re laughing and they’re learning such a valuable technique without it being fear based … because being in your body can be a very vulnerable experience for some people."
After two hours, things wrap up. People slowly start to make their way out of the gym. They’re walking a little more upright and eager. Both Maddie O'Connell and Nyreesha Williams call the class a success.
"I learned a lot of really good stuff and I got a lot of first aid training, which is also a goal that I wanted to get," says O'Connell. "I feel more prepared to help myself and defend my friends, as well."
Williams says, "I feel like watching everybody try the different stuff was cool. You could see people get more comfortable with it, which was awesome and I met new people."
I ask Williams one last time if she feels more dangerous.
"I feel absolutely lethal," she says.
Tyrann is the last person in the gym. They say there were a few reasons for tonights class.
"[First], whenever they walk into a building, [I want them] being able to recognize their surroundings, know where exits are, have some awareness of the people that are in there," Tyrann says. "And also [I want them to] come away with a little bit of self-defense knowledge so they feel more confident just in case they’re ever in a situation where they’re grabbed, not feeling safe, at least they have a little bit of knowledge to fall back on."
FitPower, Sun-Seeker MKE and Trans Liberation MKE say this isn't the last self-defense workshop like this the gym will host. In a few months they’ll be teaching even more moves and techniques. Threat level midnight.
