My March 30 Friends

Ebert and Mowen were wearing matching “United Peace Corps” T-shirts and I thought they rocked so I told them in passing. Ebert thanked me and then asked if I knew what the organization was.

I had no idea so he shared that this volunteer organization started in March of last year right when Covid hit and after some attacks on Asian Americans started increasing.

Ebert told me the story of an older Asian man who was kind of a bigwig in Chinatown — he always wore a suit and a Rolex and one day two men came up to him, threw him on the concrete and stole his Rolex.

Ebert and his friends were fed up so they started a peaceful, non-violent neighborhood patrol. He and Mowen were on their four hour shift, walking the streets of Chinatown and Nob Hill making sure everything was in order.

I asked them if I could shadow their route and join the patrol today and they happily brought me along.

Ebert and Mowen practice Shaolin martial arts and Ebert actually competed in the national championships in 2017. He won and was therefore selected to represent the US on the Shaolin team competing internationally in China. He won a Gold Medal there too!

I was curious about the different forms of martial arts and they shared that Wing Chun was a good one for self-defense and is actually what Ip Man practiced.

Apparently, this practice started as a self-defense technique for women. As the story goes, there was a woman who was betrothed to a well known gangster and she refused to marry him. He told her that if she could beat him, then she would be free.

Thus, the birth of Wing Chun, which essentially uses your opponent’s force against them — ie. how fast can you get them to the floor with minimal effort.

Ebert shared that he also volunteers with the SF Fire Department and Police Department. There are programs called NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team) and ALERT (Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team) which train civilians in being able to mobilize effectively during a crisis.

This emerged after the ’89 earthquake when a firefighter saw civilians in chaos all trying to help but not in an organized or efficient manner.

I had no idea about all of these opportunities to peacefully volunteer for the safety of our city!

Ebert is grateful for his mom who taught him “good from bad.” She taught him to return things to the right place, say “thank you” when someone gives you something and be an overall good person.

“She is the reason I am who I am today.”

Ebert’s mother is 94 years old and just got her second vaccination shot.

Mowen is grateful for his parents and his religion. Buddhism, to him, is more than just reading passages. He stands by the importance of practicing positive intent and being friendly and kind to those around you. Mowen believes strongly in peaceful acts over violence.