The Ultimate Fighter A Conversation with a Gang Member
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He
lurks around every dark corner. He has no fear. He's been in
fights everyday of his life. Despite your years of martial arts
training he can defeat you.
He is - THE STREET FIGHTER!
Come on friends and fellow martial artists. Think about
this.
If some poor soul got into fights everyday he or she
would most likely be killed before developing any real skills.
A
person trying to survive living in the streets wants to avoid
conflicts which could get him/her killed.
Avoiding these
conflicts negates the very essence of the concern some martial
artists have. Despite the way boxers, wrestlers and soldiers train
some martial artists insist the best way to learn to fight well is
to just fight.
Let's have an
interview with a gang member who also happens to be a martial
artist
Rick: How long have you been in a gang?
GM: I got down with a gang around age 14 and became
inactive around age 21.
Rick: Why did you join a gang?
GM: Most people join gangs to obtain something they aren't
getting at home. I got down because I didn't feel I was getting
respect at home. Another strong reason you get down with a gang is
because you have friends who are gang members. My friends were
older and in gangs and basically showed me the way.
Rick:
Did you get into a lot of fights?
GM: I got into a lot of
senseless fights and I've had my share of fighting for a cause. In
fact by the time I started formal martial art training, I could
already hold my own in a fight and knew what worked and didn't
work for me.
Rick: What caused most of these fights?
GM:
Well I have to give you some background so you can understand the
layout. I'm 30 now and came up around Hartford CT where you had
crews like the Ville and the Ave. Connecticut has its share of
import gangs like bloods and crips, but it also has plenty
"homegrown" gangs and nations like Elm city boys, pump
nation, and old crews like the ville and the ave. In my city
alone, we had well over 11 gangs. Now keep in mind that each
town/city has it's own set of gangs, and each well organized gang
has branches in other towns and cites, and so you can imagine how
deep this thing is. so you pack about 20 gangs in a minor city and
you can see how a lot of fighting starts. Most fights had to do
with rivals going places they had no business, and/or disrespect
issues. My personal fights dealt moreso with civilians and rivals
from other cities. I've never really been a hot head, but if
something did start, I had the power and resources to make
problems disappear.
Rick: Have you ever fought martial
artists?
GM: I may have fought some self proclaimed
martial artists...lol. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you are.
Most of my affiliated brothers were street brawlers, boxers, or
just gun crazy. Basically, what it all boiled down to is whether
you had skills or not. I've seen many people get beat down, and
worse. Coming up, most guys liked to start out boxing and they'd
try to scoop you up and slam you on the concrete. My approach as a
lighter guy, was to prevent someone from scooping me up, and so I
used my natural speed and boxing to handle them.
Rick: What
were some of the outcomes?
GM: Some of the outcomes of
gang fights are beatdowns, life altering injuries and death. When
people think of gangs, they think of what the media portrays as
the "dangerous gangbanger". They usually show urban
youth in baggy clothes, wearing the latest hip hop fashions and
things like that. The media's information about gangs and
gangmembers is borderline outdated. Gangs have evolved into well
organized organizations that parallel the structure and
functioning of the mafia. Let me clear up a few things. Not all
gang members have tattoos, not all are even into the hip hop
culture. Not all gang members are urban youths. You have your
authentic street gangs and you have the copy cats. The authentic
gangmembers can trace their line much like martial artists trace
their arts lineage. The copy cat gangs are wannabes and have no
authentic lineage to real OGs (Original Gangsters). A lot of the
wannabes commit crimes to try and get a name for themselves, and
most times these are a lot of the things you heard about. But
here's the kicker. These wannabes are living in suburbia. Some
come from nice homes, wealthy parents etc. So we have to keep in
mind that identifying gangsters is not as easy as the media
portrays. So now that we know the difference between real gangs
and wannabes, we can now see that when an authentic gangmember
like a latin king comes across someone posing as a latin king, how
violence starts.
Rick: Would you say I was correct about
"street-fighters" avoiding fights as much as possible
therefore not being as skilled as your average self-defense based
martial artist?
GM: Well each scenario will be different
for everyone. I'd say a person who has experience with real
fights, will always have a hand up versus a person who does self
defense drills. The reason why is because until that person who
trains in self defense gets their hands dirty, they will lack true
experience in fighting someone. For instance, a street brawler
doesn't train to do one technique to take someone out. They
basically concentrate on bashing someone's head in and pounding on
someone. So if the martial artist does a self defense move and it
doesn't work like in class, they may be up that famous creek.
Experience reins supreme. Think of someone shooting at a shooting
range all the time, and now they are placed in a scenario where
they have to shoot and hit moving targets. They will most likely
have to adapt and fine tune their skills. Whereas a person who
shoots moving targets all the time will have to adapt less. BUT I
will say that the martial artist does have more "tools"
to work with and should be able to train effectively enough to
give them a good chance at defending themselves.
Rick:
How often would a street fighter get into fights?
GM:
People from the street learn the ins and outs of street life and
one of those learning processes deals with fighting. You have the
billy bad ass that go around looking for a fight and those types
can fight daily. Then you have others who fight for other reasons.
But put it this way, they will fight more then a martial artist
and that's because they are out there like that. Martial artists
are typically trained to defuse the situation. in the streets,
things just keep escalating.
Rick: What you're basically
saying about martial arts skills vs the street fighter is training
in rote combinations wherein a certain response is ass-u-me d
(which can get anyone killed) is pretty useless as compared to
drills which prepare a martial artist for the as many situations
as possible, hitting a human being full contact, getting hit full
contact, the mental stress of defending your life, will better
prepare a martial artist for survival as compared to a street
fighter who may get into a fight once a week or once a month?
GM: The best way to give you a visual idea of the
comparison is from a movie called glory. It was about blacks in
the civil war who wanted to fight in the civil war. One scene
showed a black man who had to shoot his one shot rifle and refill
it to be able to shoot again. The refilling was a process similar
to a musket Well he was pretty good at doing it, and he was one of
the fastest to do it. So then a commander which had seen battle
before comes over to him and tells him to do it again...so while
the guy was firing his rifle and reloading, the commander shot his
handgun by the trainees head which made this trainee nervous, so
nervous that he couldn't perform the task that he was one of the
best at doing. This illustration is as close to real life as you
can get. When we train in the nice comfortable dojang/dojo/kwan,
we are usually in a comfortable, air conditioned, well ventilated
area. Most have nice wooden floors, carpet or mats. So then we
learn forms, free sparring step sparring and maybe even weapons.
But here's the thing, none of that reflects real life scenarios
unless were get in a fight in a store or something. The sad truth
about martial arts training is that as the years have gone by it's
been watered down. For instance, we say today that unarmed combat
versus a knife isn't really possible, but there was a time when
people MADE it work...so what changed? the NEED for this training.
Also, the hardcore do or die training also has changed. So until
people start training realistically which is always uncomfortable
then we will always give the upper hand to the street fighter who
is getting the real life training most MA are trying to prepare
for. We need to train in the dojang, in the woods, on concrete, in
all types of weather, on uneven ground, on ruff turf as well as
smooth turf, we need to train in dark alleys and tight spaces. So
by the time we are finished training realistically the playing
field is either equal to street fighters or we have the complete
upper hand.
Rick:
Any additional closing comments?
GM: Well, I'd like to say
that gang membership is on a rise in America, and parents
everywhere need to be heavily aware of what their children are
doing. Also note, this is not just a teenage thing. There are gang
members as young as 8 years old committing violent crimes. It's
time to take back our families and provide them with all that they
need to make it in this world. take care and be safe.
Rick:
I'd like to thank you for your time. I understand you are no
longer active in gang activities. I wish you luck in your quest
for peace.
About the Author
J. Richard Kirkham is a dual certified teacher and martial arts instructor. He has expertise in alternative teaching methods and positive reinforcement methodology. He's written several books in the printable electronic format and has made downloadable videos and DVDs. One of his downloadable books, Bringing The Martial Artist Out from Within, covers both realistic mental and physical training based on his martial arts and behavior management experience. He currently resides in Honolulu with his wife Jan and son Hunter. Feel free to visit Mr. Kirkham's website at http://KirkhamsEbooks.com or you may email him at help@kirkhamsebooks.com Copyright 2007
