APAHM: Vincent Chin
“Who killed Vincent Chin? This is the name of the 1988 documentary that focused on the life and death of Chinese-American, Vincent Chin. Vincent was born on May 18th, 1955 in China to his father who served in WWII for America. Vincent became a huge symbol to the Asian-American community during a time where there was much anti-Japanese sentiment in America due to a failing American auto-industry with the rise of imported Japanese vehicles. With a confrontation with two men on the night of Chin’s bachelor party, he was murdered on June 19, 1982 with his head beaten with with a baseball bat, 9 days before his wedding. He was 27 at the time of death.
The night that Vincent was murdered, the assailants Ebens and Nitz were heard from multiple witnesses yelling, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work.” They blamed Chin, who is Chinese, for the layoffs due to the rise pf the Japanese automotive company. The fight led to a McDonalds where two off-duty officers witnessed Ebens using a bat, in their reports saying “going for a home run”, repeatedly beating Vincent’s face in. He eventually died in the hospital.
After his death, witnessed by two officers… Ebens and Nitz were convicted of manslaughter, but with a plea bargain, the charges were brought down. They served no jail time, given a three year’s probation, fined $3000, and paid the court fees of $780. Vincent did not get the justice he deserved. The court, government, elected officials, and advocacy groups of Michigan refused to recognize this act as a hate crime. The same situations happening today still, in 2021 for many acts against Asians, including the murder of 8 people at the Atlanta Spa shootings earlier this year. Only one group in 1982 recognized Vincent’s civil rights laws should be applied to Asian Americans, the American Citizens for Justice (ACJ).
The verdict angered many, as it was one of the biggest hate crimes, as viewed by many, to happen at the time post-civil rights movement. Many people hit the streets to campaign and protest. There was a huge march that happened in San Francisco’s Chinatown, led by Vincent’s mother, presidential candidate at the time, Jesse Jackson, and future mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee. Ebens, 2 years later, was sentenced to 25 years in prison before being overturned in ’86. With a retrial in ’87, Eben was cleared of all charges.
My Thoughts: The story of Vincent Chin isn’t widely known. In 2009, a doc called Vincent Who? came out where they interviewed 80 young Asian-Americans, none knew who he was. As time goes on, we see similar patterns and events repeating itself in history. Along with the Asian-American hate crimes, there are so many things happening to other marginalized communities and other violent events in the world that just makes it feel like life is one big ground hogs day. I remind myself of balance of consumption, it’s one thing to educate yourself to understand what’s happening, it’s another to be filled with rage 24/7 where it affects you mentally. Today, I ask you all to be educated and remember the life of Vincent Chin.
