A native of Harlem, Darlene DeFour graduated from Fisk University and received her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where her academic research has focused on the exploration of the various ways that violence in the form of racism, sexism, as well as physical violence, impacts health and everyday life experiences. In addition to her work as a Social/Community psychologist, Darlene has been training in the martial arts for 39 years and was inducted into the Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors Hall of Fame in 2012. She received the NWMAF award of excellence in 2016. She is a 9th-degree Black Belt in San Yama Bushi Ryu Ju-jutsu, the first woman in the system to hold this rank and the Shihan title. She also holds a 6th-degree black belt in Kushinda Ryu Shotokan karate. Darlene was a founding co-chair (with Lauren Wheeler) of the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation Anti-Racism Council in 2008. At SDIC starting in 2010 she introduced a course on Applied Microaggressions Defense to the martial arts and self-defense instructors communities, designed to address the subtle forms of racism that often permeate classroom settings. This class as well as the classes that she has given over the last decade were designed to highlight the need for anti-oppression training as a core competency for all self-defense teachers and other professionals committed to social justice.