i got assaulted and robbed tonight

[ไRui_Jingδ]

My girlfriend dropped me off 1 block away from my apartment. We had just gotten back from dinner. It was about 7:30 and dark out. I get out of her car and kiss her goodbye. Drives away. I start walking towards my apartment when all of a sudden 7 black kids (juveniles, all under 18) jump me (came out of the alley) and just start beating me up. I told them I didn't have any money. I didn't have my wallet or cellphone, just my keys. I start screaming for help while they are pounding me. Mostly my face. I couldn't see ****. Everything is just a blur. I just remember feeling punches from all directions. I'm screaming "help help" and then they finally run off. I get up and run and into this guy and he calls 911. Cops show up. I tell them what happened. They catch them all and I had to id them. I am a ****ing *******. I could only recognize 2 of them. So they only arrested 2 and let the rest go. All under 18. My face looks like ****. Mostly just bruising, no cuts.

I am not in pain. I am just ****ing ****ed off. I felt so helpless and couldn't do anything. My body didn't react. More than 5 years of martial art training just a waist. My legs wouldn't move. My girlfriend was driving so I wore these ****ing sandals because it was nice out. I froze. I curled up on the ****ing ground as 7 people just pounded on my face.

I am just so ****ed off. It caught me completely off guard. I never thought this could happen to me. I wish I had ran after them and just beaten the **** out of them. But I couldn't. My body froze and my mind went blank.

Unsuccessful night for them I guess. I didn't have my wallet or any other things.

Have you ever been assaulted? Robbed? How do I get over this. My heart is still racing and I can't seem to fall asleep. This was just on the side street on my apartment.

Thanks.

God I cannot fall asleep...

[Ultimatewingchun]

Very traumatic, indeed.

But the first thing you've got to do is forgive yourself. For just freezing up when under such an attack. 7/1 is very traumatic and scary.

Drink some red wine...or some warm milk...and try to get some sleep.

Tomorrow you can begin to work on training under the stress of multiple opponents with your buddies and classmates.

Don't be afraid or ashamed to tell them what happened. They'll empathize with you and want to help - if for no other reason than the realization that it could someday happen to them.

And of course your instructor.

But if he's not responsive - search out some Tony Blauer type training (and he's just one of many good examples - Geoff Thompson is another).

In fact you should google Thompson's name and read some of his articles about real life stressful violent encounters and how to deal with them. Also check out the street/reality fighting forum on this website.

It's about stress training first and foremost - and then with working the best possible scenarios against multiple attackers (ie.- run...try to manuever so that the guy in front of you is blocking out the guy behind him - don't get surrounded...which kinds of techniques work best against multiple guys, etc.)

But mostly it's about handling the stress emotionally. You need this kind of training more than anything else.

And as soon as you can. Don't let grass grow under your feet.

Jump back into the pool as soon as you can kinda thing.

But it all starts with forgiving yourself.

[Wayfaring]

Good advice from UWC. Isolation is your enemy. Talking about it helps you grieve, recover, get past it.

It's just an event to get past. No reflection on you, your training, your martial arts work. Anyone can get surprised. In most tougher neighborhoods, nobody is out on any street w/o 6 or 7 friends.

[Wu Wei Wu]

Given the circumstances I think you did really well. At least you are still around to tell the tale. (It could have been considerably worse).

I respect you for posting an account on this forum. You are probably suffering the effects of PTSD. Although it is a good idea to analyze what went wrong and how to prevent this from happening again, you must try to do so without 'reliving' the stress of the incident. By reliving the incident you may end up magnifying the emotions triggered by the memory of the event and creating an even bigger trap of fear. I hope this makes sense! In other words try to be objective when you think about the incident otherwise you may end up reconfirming the stress that is associated with it.

Focus on the fact that:

a) you survived
b) it could have happened to anyone
c) anyone would have problems with recalling faces after the incident
d) martial arts do not make you invincible

Something that really helped when I started delving deeper into the psychology of violence was a superb book called Strong on Defense:

http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Defense.../dp/0671535110

I can provide you with quite a few suggestions in terms of resources regarding violence/martial arts, But I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for. If you are interested PM me.

Suki Gosal

[Mr Punch]

Man, good luck to you.

As people said, get back into the swing of things, don't get the funk when you're out at night, don't dwell on it too much: you'll get over it.

I've had a few muggings and **** in the past. The PTSD thing is about right - and nothing to be ashamed of. The first time took me a wee while to get over, as did the time when I was so whiskied up I couldn't remember anything of it (that one really shook me up, and I totally modified my attitude to drinking since). You get used to it.

As for multiple attacker training I find a lot of it sucks and doesn't help in the situation: all-out aggression drills will probably serve you as well. Animal Day type stuff; in your face shout and be shouted at drills; whaling on a bag like a ****ing maniac; destroying some pads... that kind of thing.

[k gledhill]

where was this ?

[YungChun]

But the first thing you've got to do is forgive yourself. For just freezing up when under such an attack. 7/1 is very traumatic and scary.

It's about stress training first and foremost - and then with working the best possible scenarios against multiple attackers (ie.- run...try to manuever so that the guy in front of you is blocking out the guy behind him - don't get surrounded...which kinds of techniques work best against multiple guys, etc.)

{snip}

But mostly it's about handling the stress emotionally. You need this kind of training more than anything else.

And as soon as you can. Don't let grass grow under your feet.

Jump back into the pool as soon as you can kinda thing.

But it all starts with forgiving yourself.

Amen....

Well said Victor.

This kind of experience can take you out of the game or make you stronger... Work toward the latter.

[Phil Redmond]

. . . I start walking towards my apartment when all of a sudden 7 black kids (juveniles, all under 18) jump me (came out of the alley) and just start beating me up. . .

I'll assume you're not black since you mentioned their race.

[ไRui_Jingδ]

I'll assume you're not black since you mentioned their race.

Why can't I mention someone's race as one of the few characteristics I remember about them? If they were Asian, I would say Asian. If they were Latino, I would say Latino. I have no problem if someone wants to describe me as a white guy.

I'm not a racist. I happen to go to a college that is in a city where there are quite a few black people, I work with a few black guys and I enjoy listening to jazz.

[Ultimatewingchun]

Naming who it is who attacked you is not "profiling" - it's simply naming who it is who attacked you. Duh!

What is he supposed to do? Tell the police that 7 guys attacked him - but not say what they looked like? For fear of "profiling"?

Makes no sense, right?

So if he can tell police what they looked like - why can't he tell us?

[Phil Redmond]

Naming who it is who attacked you is not "profiling" - it's simply naming who it is who attacked you. Duh!

What is he supposed to do? Tell the police that 7 guys attacked him - but not say what they looked like? For fear of "profiling"?

Makes no sense, right?

So if he can tell police what they looked like - why can't he tell us?

Now when I post about training, sparring, meeting, fighting, etc., some one I'm going to have to write their ethnicities. So when I speak of my Sicilian/Calabrez, Irish/Scottish, English/ Welsh, Jamaican/Chinese, Filipino/Irish/Italian, white-African-American, etc., friends I'm going to have to type even more? Jeesh, thanks Victor. . .

[Ultimatewingchun]

What he said in his opening post was not profiling, Phil.

He was simply stating facts.

Jeez...

[Liddel]

The question is: if they were white would you have said '7 white guys attacked me'? No. It's completely natural to mention their race (BECAUSE it is different to yours). It's also racist.

Mate this is complete PC brigade BS. No offence to you though.

Racism is assuming something, anything based on race. Stereotyping.

Example- If i said....

90% of my countries prison population is made up of 10 % of the total population.
Which are Polynesian. that is a fact, its true.

If i said they were in jail because they were polynesian, its blindingly obvious thats racist.

I took it like he stated a fact, he was painting a picture for us, im not sure his real intentions cause i dont know him. But if it happened to me and i was attacked id say the same thing with NO racism intended. It is what it is.

Its such a touchy subject to some and some people dont want to offend others. but lets not get to politically correct.....

It can get so rediculous to the point that i could say calling/stereotyping a guy as being racist cause hes white refering to others as being black......is racist in itself........towards white people.

Just for the record im not saying you are. But do you get my point ?

Im a member of a mixed colour family, ive had these discussions before

Now Seppukus call about Jazz - that was freaking racist and i think he needs a beating....if not from me, then from the Mods (internet style of course)

DREW

[Mike Sheng]

Regardless of what race they were,You are okay and you can start with the healing and use it as a learning tool so it can't happen to you again.I'm Half and Half,Chinese Black guy its hard to offend me,But we are fellow Gung Fu man and that enough for me.A lot of us think that just because we practice a martial art that it makes use invincible(However we all can be victims at some point)10 years ago one of my fellow martial art female friends was sexually assault,just putting her groceries in her truck and someone walked up and she became victim.All i can tell you my friend is work through it,get better and don't let it rule your life style.I'll keep you in my prayers

[Mr Punch]

Mate this is complete PC brigade BS. No offence to you though.

Fair enough. That's another distinct possibility!

Racism is assuming something, anything based on race. Stereotyping.

Nah. That definition of racism doesn't cover it. Racism can also be transmitting stereotypes. The fact that they were black means it's not the OP making black people look bad: they did that themselves, and yes, they are represntatives of their racial type even more so than say, George Bush is a representative of white people world over because that's the way it is with the inherent racism in predominant western views propagated through the news. The fact that he chose this fact to tell us (he didn't tell us previously they were wearing hoodies - just as relevant to criminal profiling, or that he suspected that they were from a bad neighbourhood) is indicative of racism. I don't mean he meant to be, hence the part of my post you quoted, I'm just saying it was.

This kind of racism is natural I think: it's the fear of the unknown and the different in any species. I do it too. But it's something we should be aware of, and challenge in ourselves IMO. I used to think I was colour blind till I got to know a couple of black people, and found myself very occasionally saying things like, 'My black friend...' and often realising that his colour had **** all to do with my story! It was a little disturbing! (It was also interesting to see that nobody ever pulled me up on it: I'm an educated white guy so I guess everybody's default stance is that this is OK to say - not just among my Japanese friends but the foreigners here too...)

In general, apart from the test of whether he would say, 'I was attacked by seven white guys...' (of course, if he stressed the word white... this would also be racist! ), there's the test that if he were speaking to his black friends, would he tell the story in the same way: i.e. saying 'I was attacked by seven black guys...'? I don't think so. Why? Because it shouldn't really be acceptable.

It can get so rediculous to the point that i could say calling/stereotyping a guy as being racist cause hes white refering to others as being black......is racist in itself........towards white people.

LOL, yeah, that's a reasonable point!

Now Seppukus call about Jazz - that was freaking racist and i think he needs a beating....if not from me, then from the Mods (internet style of course)

Yeah, but he's a frigging troll just here to wind people up, and as such I thought that was quite funny!

Naja, great post and I agree. But I still think that that kind of profiling is something we need to minimize. If I live in an area where particularly black violent crime is endemic, that kind of mental profiling is not racist as much as a survival technique. He doesn't. Is he going to be concerned next time he sees a group (gang?) of blacks at night? Yes. Is he right to be? Maybe so. But he just needs to make sure that he counts the times he's seen groups of black people who haven't attacked him too!

Man, I lived in a truely multicultural high-crime area and have had the **** beaten out of me by whites, blacks, Asians, mixed race, d amn, you name it! He needs to get out more!

This'll be my last longwinded BS on this thread - I do hear what he's saying and it's no fun getting rolled... I know!