bystander training

[redbird]

cattitude and I went to a "bystander training" session last night. The presenter discussed the basic goal, which is to keep people safe and defuse situations; reasons why people just stand there when things are happening; and possible things to do. She also asked everyone to say why we were there; in addition to general "I want to do something," there was someone who has worked as a security guard for concerts and nightclubs and realizes that the techniques he used there aren't the right choice here; I said that I was looking for ways to stay (or appear) calm while doing something other than my raised-in-New York leave me alone body language. We spent part of the session in smaller groups, discussing scenarios (all taken from recent actual events), and then talked to the whole meeting about each scenario.

I think and hope it was useful; we came home with illustrated handouts (originally from the American Friends Service Committee*) suggesting ways to defuse a tense situation by interacting with the target. The presenter also said that just by attending a session like this, we became more likely to do something rather than stand there and go home later and think "I should have."

Also: we who are organizing or attending sessions like this tend to assume that it's the other side who will be hassling someone, but for these purposes a target's actual beliefs and characteristics don't matter—Sikhs are targeted by thugs who think they're Muslim, and men of just about any [nominal] political belief hassle women. Yes, I would probably be more likely to stand up for a hijabi than for someone whose attackers thought she was a Trump supporter, but they both deserve to go about their days unmolested.

*which I first read about as an organization in the context of draft resistance during the Vietnam War, and was surprised the first few times I noticed it as a current-day organization with a building on Mass Ave.

(This entry is brief because we got home late and basically fed the cats and went to bed, and I wanted to post something while I remembered.)