Our evening (actually it was an entire weekend) with Helen Zia was a great success. So cool to be running around with Jim Shimoura, Roland Hwang, Ron Aramaki, and Helen Zia--to MSU, Ann Arbor, MSU again, Madison Heights--hearing all the behind-the-scenes stories of how they did what they did back then. It felt like being with cowboys taming the old west. The Asian Pacific American movement really did start here!
I also had the honor of meeting many of the community members who worked on the Vincent Chin case 27 years ago, including the Chinese-Filipino American nurse who was on duty when they brought Vincent Chin into the emergency room, and the elderly couple who folded and hand delivered all the press releases (remember, no faxes or email back then).
Now I better understand the power of what happened. People really pulled together, put their personal lives on hold, created a community where previously there had been none, and did what needed to be done...for Vincent Chin and for all of us.
From us slightly younger APAs, thank you all.
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