At the last day of self-defense class

Photos by Stacie Joy

With the increase in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic, Glenn Genovas, an East Village resident and owner of Sei Shin Dojo on Avenue A, decided to offer free self-defense classes for AAPI women.

The eight-week course started in April... with the last session taking place last week. EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to watch part of the class, in which Genovas donned a helmet and padded suit and put their training to the test...

The instructor said he was impressed with the results.

"They put all those weeks of training into one actual self-defense application," Genovas said. "One of [the students] hit me so hard that she broke my face shield. In case you are wondering, it was repeated elbow strikes that cracked the face shield."

According to a new report from the Asian American Bar Association of New York, there were 233 reported attacks against Asian Americans in New York City in the first three quarters of 2021. Of those, only seven have led to hate-crime convictions to date, per the report, as CNN covered. 

The Bar Association's analysis showed that most reported anti-Asian incidents were in Midtown, with around 55% of the incidents involving a female victim.