Across the Bay Area, community groups continue to look for ways to better protect the Asian American community, in the wake of a record surge in threats and attacks.
As part of the effort, Santa Clara County is running some unique AAPI safety awareness training sessions. Wednesday’s session dealt with self-defense and looking for warning signs.
The group, made up largely of AAPI women, took part in AAPI safety awareness training, conducted by Santa Clara County’s Department of Security at the County Government Center on West Hedding Street in San Jose.
“I really appreciate it because I've been attacked personally, you know, verbal and physical attacks. It’s not something you want to deal with," said Sonia, who participated in the event.
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The session is the first in a series of free community programs, provided instructions on conflict de-escalation, use of verbal commands, body movements, identifying pre-assault indicators, and safety and security assessments.
"We try to give a good foundation. A baseline of real things that might happen. We try to tailor to that. That’s why we kind of go at them. We shout at them. We have them shout at us because we want to make it as real as possible," said Doug Feliciano, director of facilities security for Santa Clara County.
There will be more sessions like this. Based on numbers from the group Stop Asian Hate, the violence against the AAPI community continues to grow.
“And it’s not something that people believe still happens. But it still does,” Sonia said.
Another AAPI safety awareness session is happening at the Vietnamese American Service Center in San Jose this Thursday at 2 p.m.
To RSVP for a future training session, email Doug.Feliciano@ceo.sccgov.org or call (408) 334-7599.
