I grew up the ghetto factory belt of Detroit. Spent time riding with a scooter gang and did a tour in the service. Came to Aikido through the bashing arts.
Interestingly, the percentage of actual criminal or violent behavior in our (US) society is low (less than 10% criminal and less than 3% violent).
The mind set of the predator is always alive and well living in the shadows. Never considered street fighting a Budo, just a way of life. To prepare to fight against it, one must understand it.
IMHO, the street mentality has not created much interest in Aikido since it is an entirely different mind set. There are some people at the Aiki-Extension conference in October that are presenting on working with youth if you are truly interested.
Until again,
Lynn
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