On the early morning of November 12^th, a 64-year-old Asian woman was kidnapped outside of Wollaston station while she was headed to work. She was bound and shoved into the back of a car. After being repeatedly raped and assaulted, she was left in the parking lot of a Brockton mall later that evening. She was able to attract the attention of a passerby who contacted the police. After the initial reports and capture of the assailant, 26-year-old Christian Lynch, it was found that he had attempted to kidnap another Asian woman 10 minutes earlier at the same station, but she fought him off. Lynch has pleaded not guilty, and officials are still investigating as to whether or not these events can legally be classified as a hate crime. The authorities have footage of the kidnapping, and Lynch was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. He is also facing charges for lewdness after allegedly exposing himself to a woman on a walking trail in Quincy. 

Life requires balance. It’s an attribute that martial arts both promises and practices, wishes and strives for. Those who have practiced the different forms of martial arts have found serenity in balance, that of body and mind. Such a balance is something Sifu (Teacher) Mai Du focuses on at her Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy, caring not only for the physical state and improvement of her students, but their mental state as well. Amid tragedies and crimes that occur in this world, including recent events in Quincy, home to one of her locations, she works as an activist and a teacher to make a positive impact on the community.

Mai commented on the situation in a recent interview with this reporter.  “I have been teaching community self-defense, women self-defense courses for years,” Mai explained, “but not consistently. It’s just when I feel we need to do something in the community because of something, I fit it into my schedule and then do it.” She held self-defense classes just after hearing of the tragedy, hoping to provide some relief before Thanksgiving, seeking to take the weight of fear off of the community’s shoulders. “I wanted them to know that at least they can go get training, so they feel better going into Thanksgiving, being with families and feeling less heavy.” Mai added, “or the conversations can be less heavy. And that’s why I immediately did one for Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Now people are calling and asking, ‘When are you having the next one? Can you come to our senior building to do one specifically for us?’” 

Sifu Mai Du grew up in Vietnam and is Vietnamese and Chinese, her early exposure to martial arts beginning there when her siblings were taking their own classes. “When I was very young,” Mai recalled, “my siblings were doing some sort of martial arts in Vietnam. I found out later they were doing Judo and Aikido. Somehow in my blood, I just knew I had to do martial arts, and I kept begging them to take me. But they were like, ‘No. you’re too small. You’re a girl’ and all that.” One could label this early passion and feeling as destiny or fate, but all Mai felt was drive.

 Mai was persistent and did not let her petite frame or gender limit learning martial arts. Her family left Vietnam in the 80’s. Further influenced by martial arts movies in the United States, Mai tried again to pursue classes. “When we escaped Vietnam…I kept wanting to learn and I kept begging my parents. So then eventually, my dad said go ask your mom. And my mom said, go ask your dad. So I said, ‘OK, they said yes!’” Mai said with a laugh. “But then I asked my dad to take me to Chinatown just to see what was offered. I said I wanted to learn Kung Fu. And then I saw Wah Lum Kung Fu in Chinatown and I went up and that was it.”

Mai’s first school opened in Malden over ten years ago. She worked with her own Sifu  and opened her studio. “I formally approached my Sifu. And I said, I would like to open my own school. I want to give back to my hometown. I want to give back to my community.” Mai did just that. As she continued to pour in her own core values of tradition, heritage, and respect, she began to attract members of different communities looking for support, strength, and balance. Her reputation in the community began to bring people to her. After some time in Malden, Mai  opened another location in Quincy.

The initial shock of November 12th still saddens her. The fact that the first woman the assailant attacked was able to fight off the assailant furthered her belief that having the proper skills to defend oneself and get away from dangerous situations creates not only confidence and empowerment, but also peace of mind. Mai emphasized. “That’s so important. Oftentimes, studies have shown that perpetrators pick easy targets because they don’t want to get too involved and they just want instant gratification… people need to know how to stand up for themselves.” Mai made it clear that she was in no way blaming the victim for what happened, but rather stressing that this situation shows that it is important to know how to get yourself away from a potentially life-threatening situation. “I’m just saying that more of us need to know or be exposed to and be imparted with the skills and knowledge and tips as to how to stay as safe as we can be…we need to be there for each other.” 

Mai urges the use of creative self-defense as well, using what is around to oneself to create distractions or use as makeshift weapons to defend and then leave. Once again, fighting isn’t the only aspect in her academy. It is a safe and reasonable defense, never going too far and becoming an assailant yourself, but learning how to use martial arts safely. She also emphasizes the need to continually sharpen one’s skills so that if the time ever comes to get out of a bad situation, the person knows they are capable of doing so. She understands that there is also still a lot of interest in her self-defense classes and is working on conducting more as needed. 

Mai’s approach is built not only on the self-defense aspect of martial arts, but also the traditional part that speaks to heritage and culture. Every morning she burns incense for past teachers, honoring them. Her passion for her craft and teaching has brought people of all ages to her studio, as well as those within the LGBTQ+ community and people from different ethnic backgrounds. “We support each other,” Mai said. “The energies, and inclusiveness, and safe space; that’s really important to me.”