Should Mark Wahlberg Be Pardoned for 1988 Assault? - NBC News.com

Asian Americans respond to Mark Wahlberg's application for pardon and 1988 court documents say race did have something to do with it. My article for NBC News Asian America.

But his assault conviction was accompanied by another, for contempt for court. That stemmed from a series of attacks he committed two years earlier, chasing and hurling rocks and racial epithets at African-American school children. A court prohibited him from assaulting, threatening, or intimidating anyone because of race or national origin; the 1988 investigation found him in violation of the order, meaning the court believed race did play a role in the attacks on Lam and Trinh.

Should Mark Wahlberg Be Pardoned for 1988 Assault? - NBC News.com

Asian-American Activists Attack Anti-Discrimination Suits - NBC News.com

from Emil Guillermo for NBC News Asian America, quoting Cynthia Liu of K12 News Network and Jenn Fang of Reappropriate

Asian-American Activists Attack Anti-Discrimination Suits - NBC News.com

Eric Garner Case Resonates Among Asian Americans - NBC News

my article for NBC News Asian America

"While we do not experience racism in the exact same way as Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans," said Minneapolis-based poet and activist Bao Phi, "I think we should look at cases of state-sanctioned violence and police brutality against Asian Americans, Fong Lee being one example, to engage our communities."

Eric Garner Case Resonates Among Asian Americans - NBC News

Civil Rights Groups Prep to Ensure 2020 Census Reaches All - NBC News.com

"We cannot afford to go backwards." my article for nbc news asian america

Civil Rights Groups Prep to Ensure 2020 Census Reaches All - NBC News.com

Why Ferguson Should Matter to Asian-Americans | TIME

from Jack Linshi at Time Magazine, quotes Helen Zia:



Why Ferguson Should Matter to Asian-Americans | TIME

Asian Americans Show Solidarity, Support for Ferguson - NBC News.com

More than three decades after Vincent Chin's death, the decision not to indict Darren Wilson reminds us that our justice system is still broken,” said Emma Chen, president of American Citizens for Justice/Asian American Center for Justice. Chen was recalling the 1982 beating death of Chinese-American Vincent Chin, whose killers were fined $3000 and never spent a night in jail.
"When there is no accountability for excessive force and police brutality, " said Chen, "we guarantee there will be another tragedy."

Asian Americans Show Solidarity, Support for Ferguson - NBC News.com

Statement from American Citizens for Justice on Ferguson Decision

Statement from American Citizens for Justice President Emma Chen:
American Citizens for Justice is saddened by the St. Louis Grand Jury's decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. It reminds us of how much work still needs to be done to achieve racial justice in this country. When there is no accountability for excessive force and police brutality, we guarantee there will be another tragedy. As Michael Brown's family stated last night, "We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen." We urge that the federal investigation into this incident proceeds diligently. As with the Vincent Chin case, this case is an example where the process for justice has not achieved justice for the community. We are left with an empty feeling inside and the need for a resolution.
#fergusondecision #ferguson #blacklivesmatter #michaelbrown #vincentchin #asianamerican

Terry Park's class today

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is chatting online today with Vanessa Teck for Terry Park's class at the University of Miami in Ohio about the Vincent Chin case.

Check it out today at 2:30 https://plus.google.com/u/1/events/c3ve8o09i22r859ssll6jfec6r8

Forty Years Since Bilingual Education Ruling, Challenges Remain - NBC News.com

“For the first time in the history of the U.S.,” said UC Berkeley Professor Ling-chi Wang, “The Supreme Court recognized the rights of linguistic minorities in public education and, by extension, in other vital public services for people with different needs across the country.”
Forty Years Since Bilingual Education Ruling, Challenges Remain - NBC News.com

Detroit Asian Youth Project Celebrates 10 years of Mentorship - NBC News.com

Congratulations DAY (Detroit Asian Youth) Project on your 10 Year Anniversary Celebration today!

“The program was started in response to questions being raised at the 20-year anniversary of the Vincent Chin incident,” said Detroit Asian Youth (DAY) Project co-founder and coordinator Soh Suzuki, referring to the beating death of a Chinese American man in a Detroit suburb in 1982. “Where has the Asian American community in Detroit gone? What does it mean to organize Asian Americans in Detroit today?”

Detroit Asian Youth Project Celebrates 10 years of Mentorship - NBC News.com

Detroit Vincent Chin mural caught in the crossfire of a turf war

Statement from Grand River Creative Corridor:

Defacing of Vincent Chin Memorial mural in Detroit's Grand River Creative Corridor

Earlier this year we contacted international street artist Andrew Pisacane also known as "GAIA" about creating a mural in the Grand River Creative Corridor (GRCC) in Detroit, Michigan. We were attracted to GAIA's talent and his ability to create large scale murals that shed light on deep-rooted civil rights history. GAIA suggested doing memorial mural of Vincent Chin and provided an in depth history of his life and eventual death. Below outlines the series of events from the organization, creation, defacing, and removal of the Vincent Chin Memorial Mural:

May 2014- Details of the mural were organized and confirmed. GAIA requested that we make contact with Vincent Chin's family to approve and provide their blessing of the mural. We were led to the "American Citizens for Justice", "a nonprofit 501c3 organization serving the Asian Pacific American (APA) communities of Michigan and fighting for the civil rights of all Americans. It was founded in 1983 after the baseball beating death of Vincent Chin." Details and imagery were sorted out then mutually approved. Artist travel itinerary, accommodations, supplies, equipment and mural location were confirmed.

June 18, 2014- GAIA arrived to Detroit.

June 19, 2014- GAIA met building owner, created conversation, and building owner gave his blessing. The building owner respected the idea of a memorial mural and related to the challenges Vincent Chin faced. GAIA met Detroit graffiti artist SINTEX, who had previously had a mural on the wall. (All of the GRCC walls rotate artists every 1-3 years. Several other walls have been successfully rotate without any conflict.) GAIA explained his mural concept and SINTEX gave his blessing by saying "I've had my mural on the wall for a couple years now and now it's yours".

June 19- June 23, 2014- GAIA created the Vincent Chin Memorial Mural.

June 23, 2014- GAIA departed Detroit.

August 6, 2014- Over 100 Girl Scouts visited and toured the GRCC and were educated on the history of Vincent Chin. (see attached photo)

August 9, 2014 at 6:37am- Derek Weaver, founder and curator of the GRCC, received a text message from Detroit graffiti artist "SINTEX" that stated "The mural in the parking lot got hit..looks like justo...blk buff line all thru it..signature justo ..or justd". Derek living only 15 minutes, away drove to the mural to find that the black paint was still wet and dripping. Derek decided to try and save the mural and washed 90 percent of the black paint off with a water hose. From there, several Detroit artists offered to help fix the mural and plans were scheduled to do so.

August 11, 2014- SINTEX told Derek that the wall needed to be repainted. Derek then explained the plans to restore the mural. SINTEX expressed frustration and disapproval.

August 12, 2014- Derek received a phone call in the late afternoon from SINTEX demanding he purchase a 5 gallon of black paint to cover the mural. SINTEX stated that he spoke with the building owner and received his permission to repaint the wall. Derek told SINTEX not to repaint the wall until Derek had an opportunity to speak with the owner directly and reminded him that the wall was scheduled to be fixed.

August 13, 2014 at 7:35am- Derek received a text message from another artist that said "Omg 1/4 of the gaia mural is buffed". Derek arrived shortly thereafter and discovered that SINTEX had “buffed” the mural overnight. SINTEX accepted responsibility via Facebook posts/messages.

August 14 to Present- Several claims and threats have been made by SINTEX via Facebook, Instagram, in-person, and Phone/Text. SINTEX removed and painted over the remaining wall and started painting his own mural. He made several mentions that it was his wall and Detroit is a “No Fly Zone” and GAIA never had the right to paint it.

RESOLUTION

The Grand River Creative Corridor and the 4731 Arts Incubator will no longer support SINTEX financially or personally, his art, housing, or work space.

ABOUT SINTEX

SINTEX currently resides in the 4731 Art Incubator, located within the Grand River Creative Corridor. SINTEX was one of the lead artists in the early-age of the GRCC and painted 4 or 5 murals. SINTEX was provided a 6,000 square foot loft free of charged for 2 years. Recently, the City of Detroit inspected the loft and deemed it unsafe and uninhabitable for residential use. SINTEX was given notice in May of 2014 that his occupancy would be ending. SINTEX has made no indications of moving out of the loft.

ABOUT GAIA

GAIA is an international street artist based in Baltimore Maryland. He was invited to participate in the Grand River Creative Corridor and agreed to donate the mural to the community. GAIA visited Detroit at the end of 2013 to create a mural inside well-known Detroit business man Dan Gilbert’s parking garage. The mural was painted inside the “Z Garage” and organized by Matt Eaton of the Library Street Collective. GAIA has also participated in many other mural projects including Miami’s “Wynwood Walls”, Atlanta’s “Living Walls”, and GAIA also organizes a mural project in Baltimore called “Open Walls”. (GAIA’s full statement can be found at http://instagram.com/gaiastreetart)

STATEMENT FROM GRCC FOUNDER & CURATOR- DEREK WEAVER

“Public art is for anyone and everyone. It’s not restricted to the elite or confined inside the walls of an institution. It’s not about fighting over walls, murals, or creating conflict. It’s about creating a dialogue with the community…creating emotion, energy and positivity. The defacing of the recent Vincent Chin mural saddens all of us and is an indicator that the community in Detroit has some work to do. It shows that the “No Fly Zone” mentality still exists today and hinders the growth and the resurgence of the great city of Detroit. Our sincerest apologies to Vincent Chin, his family, the Asian American Center for Justice, and GAIA. We are happy we were able to provide the local community dialogue and enlightenment on the death of Vincent Chin during the short time the mural was up. We look forward to creating many more beautiful murals that help the community move forward.” -Derek Weaver

ABOUT THE GRAND RIVER CREATIVE CORRIDOR (GRCC)

The Grand River Creative Corridor, also known as “GRCC", is an art corridor and neighborhood revitalization project concentrated on Grand River Avenue between on a half-mile stretch just outside downtown Detroit, Michigan. Founded on July 15, 2012 by Derek Weaver, the project features over 100 murals on 15 buildings; an outdoor fine-art gallery at a bus stop; free-standing art installations; a cleanup of overgrown vegetation, trash, and vandalism; and an economic stimulus project for local businesses. The project involves over 100 local and international volunteer-artists and is an ongoing effort to transform Detroit’s infamous Grand River Avenue into a creative hub that attracts: tourists, artists, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors alike.

Previous media articles:

Popular Detroit artist defaces tribute to Asian American icon Vincent Chin | Motor City Muckraker

Muckraker: Well-Known Local Artist Defaces Vincent Chin Mural On Grand River  –  Deadline Detroit

Update: Chin Mural 'Defacing ... Saddens All Of Us,' Sponsoring Group Says –  Deadline Detroit

Update: Chin Mural 'Defacing ... Saddens All Of Us,' Sponsoring Group Says – Deadline Detroit

Update: Chin Mural 'Defacing ... Saddens All Of Us,' Sponsoring Group Says –  Deadline Detroit

Popular Detroit artist defaces tribute to Asian American icon Vincent Chin | Motor City Muckraker

Popular Detroit artist defaces tribute to Asian American icon Vincent Chin | Motor City Muckraker

Muckraker: Well-Known Local Artist Defaces Vincent Chin Mural On Grand River – Deadline Detroit

Muckraker: Well-Known Local Artist Defaces Vincent Chin Mural On Grand River  –  Deadline Detroit

Camp Aims to Connect Youth with Radical South Asian History - NBC News.com

My article in NBCNews.com Asian America re BASS, ECSS, CDYR:

“We’re creating the camp we wish we had had when we were their age,” said California-based organizer and writer Tanzila Ahmed, “with access to all the South Asian American history we wish we had known.”

Camp Aims to Connect Youth with Radical South Asian History - NBC News.com

Stephanie Chang Is Poised to Make Political History in Michigan - NBC News.com

Congratulations Stephanie Chang on winning the primary! My article on NBCNews

“Our campaign was really focused on connecting with residents individually," said Chang. "I personally knocked on all the primary voters' doors twice! One resident joked with me that I had been over to his house more than his family members and another even jokingly referenced during her sermon at church that I had been by her house too many times!”

Stephanie Chang Is Poised to Make Political History in Michigan - NBC News.com

MAPAAC Town Hall Meeting re Healthy Michigan Plan

Just received this from the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission re Healthy Michigan Plan, fyi:

Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission to Host Town Hall on Expanded Medicaid Program and Immigration Initiatives

Detroit – On Sunday, August 17, 2014 the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC), the Healthy Asian American Project and the Vietnamese American Association of Michigan will host a town hall meeting on the Healthy Michigan Plan – a state of Michigan program to provide low-cost health care benefits to Michigan residents. The event will be held at Our Lady of Grace Church, 26256 Ryan Road, Warren from 2 to 4 pm.A translator will be available to provide the information in Vietnamese. A question and answer period will follow the presentation. “As part of MAPAAC’s work to educate the Asian Pacific community on state programs and initiatives, we are pleased to host these town halls in native languages so attendees can learn about more about opportunities available to Michigan residents,” said Jamie Hsu, MAPAAC Chair. Individuals are eligible for the Healthy Michigan Plan if they:· Are age 19-64 years
· Have income at or below 133% of the federal poverty level* ($16,000 for a single person or $33,000 for a family of four)
· Do not qualify for or are not enrolled in Medicare
· Do not qualify for or are not enrolled in other Medicaid programs
· Are not pregnant at the time of application
· Are residents of the State of Michigan
In addition to Healthy Michigan program, attendees will learn about Upwardly Global, a training program to help skilled immigrants, refugees and asylees rebuild their professional careers, and the Michigan EB-5 Regional Center, offering a visa program designed to facilitate foreign investments in new, job-creating commercial enterprises. If you would like to attend and need accommodations to do so, please call 586-713-8261. MAPAAC was established to advance the full and equal participation of Asian and Pacific Americans in the building of a greater Michigan. The Commission, made up of 21 individuals appointed by the Governor, advises the Governor and state legislature on policy matters and serves Michigan’s Asian and Pacific American population by promoting their development and welfare and recognizing their achievements. Each member of the Commission has a specific interest or expertise in Asian or Pacific American concerns.

Ileto family remembers Joseph Ileto, slain 15 years ago

Remembering Joseph Ileto 15 years later:

Joseph Ileto, Ismael’s older brother, died Aug. 10, 1999 after being shot by Buford O. Furrow Jr., who had opened fire on five people at the Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills before encountering Ileto, who was working as a mail carrier in Chatsworth.

Ileto family remembers Joseph Ileto, slain 15 years ago

Asian-American Groups At Odds Over Net Neutrality Debate - NBC News.com

My article at NBCNews.com on net neutrality:

“There's a strong human and civil rights case for strong protections of internet rights,” said 18MillionRising's New Media Director Cayden Mak. His group begana campaign to encourage OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) to reverse their stand, “Trusting the free market on this is an exercise in folly, at best.”

Asian-American Groups At Odds Over Net Neutrality Debate - NBC News.com

Asian American Writers' Workshop - Serve the People at the Bottom: Yuri Kochiyama

Great article by Scott Kurashige on Yuri Kochiyama in AAWW.org

Yuri’s indefatigable effort to build solidarity among all activists and oppressed people is what many will likely see as the hallmark of her legacy.

Asian American Writers' Workshop - Serve the People at the Bottom: Yuri Kochiyama

Population, Poverty Both Grew in This Asian American Community - NBC News.com

A new report by Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Orange County and the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, “A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in Orange County,” looks at the contradictions found in America’s third largest Asian American community. There are nearly 600,000 Asian Americans and 19,000 Pacific Islanders in Orange County, growing at 41% and 17%, respectively.

Experts say as the community grows, so their needs, not just in California, but across America.

Population, Poverty Both Grew in This Asian American Community - NBC News.com

Vincent Who? showing and "Race in the City" panel discussion at Netroots Nation

Vincent Who? will be shown at Netroots Nation at Cobo Hall on Friday, July 18 at 6:30 pm in room 142-C. A panel will follow to discuss race relations in Detroit, to include the film's producer Curtis Chin; American Citizens for Justice / Asian American Center for Justice's Roland Hwang; Horace Sheffield III from Detroit Association of Black Organizations; Heidi Budaj, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, Michigan chapter; and Ismael Ahmed representing ACCESS. #nn14

More info on the case at http://RememberingVincentChin.com/

The film and panel discussion are free, but you have to preregister to get in.

Watch Video | American Revolutionary: Feature Films | POV | PBS

FULL-LENGTH video stream of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs by filmmaker Grace Lee available now through July 30 on PBS!



Watch Video | American Revolutionary: Feature Films | POV | PBS

Netroots Nation 2014 NN14 Screening of "Vincent Who?" - and Discussion of Race in Detroit- Eventbrite

from Curtis Chin: VINCENT WHO? screening and panel on race in Detroit (aka Race and the City) Friday, July 18, 2014, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Cobo Hall, Room #142 C. Attendance is free, but if you're not attending the Netroots Nation 2014 conference, you must REGISTER HERE.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/nn14-screening-of-vincent-who-and-discussion-of-race-in-detroit-tickets-12013820661

NN14 Screening of "Vincent Who?" - and Discussion of Race in Detroit- Eventbrite

18MillionRising | | In Search of Justice: Another Way to Remember Vincent Chin

beautiful reflection from 18 Million Rising New Media Director Cayden Mak on the legacy of Vincent Chin--and how it could change how we define "justice." http://bit.ly/1lpw1Zt

18MillionRising | | In Search of Justice: Another Way to Remember Vincent Chin

Vincent Chin 30, SF Bay Area, 1/3 - YouTube

From the national online townhall, coordinated by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress in 2012 on the 30th anniversary of the death of Vincent Chin

Published on Jul 31, 2012Watch the 3 part discussion + Q&A here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...
In 1982, Vincent Chin was the victim of a hate crime murder in Detroit. Thirty years later, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to face discrimination and bullying. In light of recent tragedies like the extreme hazing and subsequent death of Pvt. Danny Chen and the continuing effects of 9/11, what can Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders do to stand up against racism and discrimination?
Events took place around the country on June 23rd, 2012 in memory and in reflection of Vincent Chin. A national online townhall, coordinated by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, was watched by viewers around the country: http://www.apaforprogress.org/vc30
6/23/2012: Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (SF Bay Area) and the Center for Asian American Media co-hosted the San Francisco event. APEX Express contributor R.J. Lozada moderated a panel with:
Angela Chan, Staff Attorney of the Asian Law Caucus
Vincent Pan, Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action
Ling Woo Liu, Executive Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute
Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.
The panel delves into hate crimes, the short comings of recent legislation, and how each group is working together to change the culture of law and order.
Introductions by Helen Zia (Asian American activist/author), Norman Fong (Chinatown Community Development Center, Executive Director) and Ed Lee (Mayor of San Francisco)
1 hour podcast of event from APEX Express:http://apexexpress.wordpress.com/2012...
Storify: http://sfy.co/c0Vh

Vincent Chin 30, SF Bay Area, 1/3 - YouTube

Vincent Chin Trial Recreation - APABA-DC / DOJ PanAsia - YouTube

The Asian Pacific American Bar Association www.apaba-dc.org in Washington DC recreates the Vincent Chin trial in 2011 (New York did it first, looking for the link now).

Vincent Chin Trial Recreation - APABA-DC / DOJ PanAsia - YouTube

from PowerPAC+

From Washington D.C. · powerpacplus.org:

We are stronger when we speak up for each other within & across racial lines. #VincentChin #Truestory #neverforget pic.twitter.com/oiisZSHfMb
— PowerPAC+ (@PowerPAC_Plus) June 23, 2014

Who Killed Vincent Chin? | POV | PBS

And if you haven't seen Renee Tajima-Pena and Christine Choy's Academy Award nominated documentary film, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" that is where you should start.

Synopsis

On a hot summer night in Detroit, Ronald Ebens, an autoworker, killed a young Chinese-American engineer with a baseball bat. Although he confessed, he never spent a day in jail. This gripping Academy Award-nominated film relentlessly probes the implications of the murder in the streets of Detroit, for the families of those involved, and for the American justice system.

Who Killed Vincent Chin? | POV | PBS

Vincent Who? - OFFICIAL MOVIE SITE - A Film On Vincent Chin

and the more recent film about all that has happened since the case, from Curtis Chin:

Vincent Who? - OFFICIAL MOVIE SITE - A Film On Vincent Chin

Love Letter from Helen Zia!

I shared the links to 18 Million Rising's post and the #iamvincentchin Tumblr as well as all the materials here at rememberingvincentchin.com with Helen Zia and the folks at American Citizens for Justice (ACJ) and...

"Frances,
Thanks so much for all the links to the final mural art and such moving testaments to Vincent, his mother and the movement to bring him justice. It all speaks to the importance of ACJ's work in advocacy and as keepers of the legacy of both Vincent and the movement that ACJ started.
Thanks to you all,
Helen"

:) So let's keep working...

more from Jon Jang:

more from jazz musician Jon Jang, reprinted with permission:

Just for the record, excuse the pun, all of the Asian American musicians who were on my recording ,Are You Chinese or Charlie Chan?, not only became leaders and recorded their first recording after this recording and the only time the five of played together, but were the same or close to the age of Vincent Chin: Glenn Horiuchi was two months older than Vincent and not on the recording, Mark Izu and Jon Jang a year apart from Vincent, Francis Wong, Fred Ho and Anthony Brown two years. It revivifies a new meaning to the statement,"It could have been me." According to Emeritus Professor Olly Wilson, the nascent awareness of institutionalizing of African American music studies came forth during a conference after the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968.

What strikes me are the parallels between all those who were 27 at the time, and this new generation of young activists who are now 27. I'm honored and humbled to stand in between these conversations.

Blacklava V Chin (Vincent Chin) T Shirts

Do you have your Blacklava.net V Chin T-shirt? Sure fire conversation starter. Keep telling the story throughout the year. Thanks Ryan Suda!



V Chin (Vincent Chin) Women's T Shirt

V Chin (Vincent Chin) T Shirt

V Chin (Vincent Chin) 1 inch Pin Back Button

2002 Rededication to Justice Vincent Chin T-shirt

From Emily Lawsin, image and note reprinted with permission:

Tshirt designed by Ha-Hoa Hamano for 2002 Rededication to Justice: Vincent Chin 20th Year Remembrance, a 3-day Teach-In and Pilgrimage to the Gravesite in Detroit. The face includes names of hate crime victims. Rest in Peace, Vincent Chin (5/18/1955-6/23/1982).

Vincent Chin: Some Lessons and Legacies | Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

From Chris Fan at Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics, 2012:

What we can confidently say is this: nuance would not have saved Vincent Chin. The violence Ebens inflicted on Chin was a fatal performance of how racialization always works. Indeed, the tragedy of Chin’s death is not that Ebens was mistaken. On the contrary, Ebens and Nitz made Chin Japanese. The lesson of racialization that Chin’s murder makes so utterly clear is that race doesn’t exist outside the dynamics of power and violence.

This brings me to something that has always bothered me about narrations of Chin’s murder that has to do with this point about race and power. Nearly every account of the events of June 19 mentions Ebens’ misidentification of Chin’s ethnicity. This perplexes me not only because it is so dramatically beside the point, but also because it suggests that had Ebens known the truth of Chin’s race (whatever that would mean), things might have turned out differently. Chin might still be with us. He might have married his fiancée Vicki Wong, and he might have lived into ripe old age, as Ebens has. (Nitz was killed in a motorcycle accident.) The very premise of such a claim undermines the theories of racialization and power undergirding the Asian American movement.

And yet something about this narrative convention does make sense. The necessity of calling Ebens' attribution a mistake betrays a specific ideological desire. Lurking behind the coalitional power of the Asian American label is the promise that its efficacy will one day obsolesce, and on the heels of that glorious moment, the content of the ethnicities it strategically held together would be redeemed in a kind of multicultural Utopia.

It’s a beautiful idea. An inspirational one. But the fundamental question it poses is extremely difficult to contend with: Can we construct our own racial identity?

Because race never belongs exclusively to the oppressed or the oppressor, the answer can only be a brutish "no." I'd argue, however, that one of the central legacies of Chin’s murder is that sometimes impossibility must be forced into the realm of possibility. If Chin's death and Kaufman's decision gave birth to the impossible community of Asian America, then our task now is to use all the tools at our disposal -- cultural, legal, social -- to brutishly wrench that "no" into a determined "yes." If we owe Chin anything, we owe him that.

- See more at: http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2012/06/vincent-chin-some-lessons-and-legacies#sthash.NOao4dKu.dpuf

Vincent Chin: Some Lessons and Legacies | Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

#IAmVincentChin: Never Forget - Project Ava

From Vanessa Teck at Project Ava:

In order to commemorate the legacy of Vincent Chin, Project Ava has partnered with Reappropriate and Fascianasians to gather stories of how Vincent Chin has impacted our friends, families, and communities.

#IAmVincentChin: Never Forget - Project Ava

letter from Stephanie Chang

Excerpted from a June 23, 2014 letter from Stephanie Chang who is running for State Representative in Michigan House District 6 (Detroit, River Rouge, Ecorse), reprinted with permission:

On this day in 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American man, died four days after a brutal baseball bat beating by two white men in Highland Park.

This took place during times of heightened tension due to the struggling U.S. auto industry at the time. Instead of going to his wedding, his friends and family attended his funeral. Asian Americans across ethnic lines came together and organized for justice when they realized his attackers never served a full day in jail. The incident galvanized a pan-Asian American movement.

Learning about the details of the Vincent Chin case when I was in high school spurred me to want to become more active on civil rights and social justice issues. I wanted to learn and do more, especially across ethnic and racial lines. Reading about the case was a catalytic moment for me as a young activist. Learning about the Chin case led me to learn more about and later work on issues such as affirmative action, voting rights, education equity, and more.

Fifty years ago, several young men lost their lives in the name of freedom and the right to vote. In 1962, less than 7 percent of eligible Black voters were registered in Mississippi. Freedom Summer activists made great personal sacrifices so that all people could have the right to vote, as they worked alongside local residents in Mississippi. Volunteers organized Freedom Schools, registered voters, and more. At least four activists were killed, more were wounded, and over a thousand were arrested. I know that the rights we have today are due to the blood and tears shed by many who came before us.

Making sure that everyone has access to our country's democratic process became one passion of mine. I have registered people to vote, organized Election Day efforts in the Asian American community to protect the right to vote, testified on voting rights issues and redistricting, and met with several local clerks about translating election materials so that everyone can accurately cast their vote.

As long as there are efforts to suppress the vote, we have more work to do. I will be a strong voice for voting rights when elected to the Michigan State House.

Will you encourage 10 of your friends to vote in the August 5th primary this year?

With gratitude,

Stephanie Chang

To learn more about this Stephanie Chang's campaign, please check out stephaniechang.com.

Blog: Remembering Vincent Chin: The Passion and Agony of a Community - AALDEF

from Emil Guillermo (oh that hair!) at Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund:

Vincent Chin and I were both Asian Americans who grew up at the same time.
We were the same age. Even shared a hairstyle.

Blog: Remembering Vincent Chin: The Passion and Agony of a Community - AALDEF

Remembering the significance of the Vincent Chin case and how we keep carrying it forward:

Remembering the significance of the Vincent Chin case and how we keep carrying it forward, by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang at the State Bar of Michigan Legal 34th Milestone, 2009:

Key to this awareness and mobilization was education and media coverage--education of the Asian American community about their rights in America, education of the general public about what Asian Americans are really like, education of the legal community about whether or not Asian Americans are even covered by civil rights laws, education of elected officials about the impact of racially suggestive campaigns directed against Asian imports. Without this national mobilization, and national and international media attention, there never would have been a federal hate crime trial, and we would have been left with only Mrs. Chin's words:

"What kind of law is this? What kind of justice? This happened because my son is Chinese. If two Chinese killed a white person, they must go to jail, maybe for their whole lives & Some thing is wrong with this country."

Since then, the history of the Vincent Chin case has become a staple in Asian American Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Cultures, and law courses around the country. The Academy Award winning documentary film by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena, Who Killed Vincent Chin? has been shown to generations of college students. There have been remembrance events--vigils, dinners, conferences, poetry slams--organized around the country on the 10th, 20th, and 25th year anniversaries of Vincent Chin's death. Now there is a new documentary film produced by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, Vincent Who? about how too many college students--who at this point are all born after 1982--do not know about this case or its importance, even as they take being Asian American and being a part of Asian American clubs and communities for granted.

Published at Harvard Kennedy School Asian American Policy Review, 2010: isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic855678.files/2010 - AAPR.pdf

Also here at 5:48 mark Frances Kai-Hwa Wang on Role of the Media in Vincent Chin Case State Bar of Michigan Legal Milestone - YouTube At 5:48 Mark

We Are Vincent Chin #IAmVincentChin

Check out the beautiful faces and powerful voices of #IAmVincentChin curated by

Jenn Fang Reappropriate Remember 32 years of Vincent Chin with #IAmVincentChin! Help trend it! | Reappropriate,

Vanessa Teck Project Ava #IAmVincentChin: Never Forget - Project Ava,

Juliet Shen Fascinasians

on Twitter #IAmVincentChin

and at Tumblr IAmVincentChin.tumblr.com.

We Are Vincent Chin

Updated: with more links.

Vincent Chin: 30 Years Later | Bao Phi | StarTribune.com

from Bao Phi in Star Tribune, 2012:

There is no way for me to make sense of this case. I try to write intelligently about it, and all I have is unbridled, bottomless anger. I feel provoked, to my core. That one of my earliest memories is that kids were calling me chink and I had to ask my dad what it meant. To have a lifetime of micro-aggressions and not-so-micro aggressions directed at you, stacked on top of people telling you your experience and insisting that racism doesn’t exist towards your people, and to top it all off, that people can murder you in the street in front of McDonalds and get a slap on the wrist for it. And though Vincent Chin’s tragic murder is relatively invisible, it’s horrifying to think his case is actually one of the more visible, known cases of anti-Asian violence. I feel that there is no room for love, or reason, in a world like this. I feel tired, and defeated. Stupid and useless.

Of course, if there is any bright side at all to this, it is that the memory of Chin and the blatant injustice has galvanized many Asian Americans to activism. I asked some respected Asian American activists and community workers to talk about this case for my blog.

More voices at Vincent Chin: 30 Years Later | Bao Phi | StarTribune.com

from Roland Hwang at Vincent Chin's gravesite at dusk

from Roland Hwang, one of the founding members of  American Citizens for Justice / Asian American Center for Justice, today at #vincentchin's gravesite at dusk.

Vincent Chin is buried next to his parents, Lily and CW Hing Chin, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 11851 Van Dyke Ave., Detroit, MI 48234-4137, section 42. (313) 921-6960.
http://forestlawndetroit.com/about-us/location/

Reflections from 18MillionRising

from 18MillionRising, reprinted with permission:

I went to Vincent Chin's grave today, cleaned it, left fruit and incense at both his and his parents' headstones.

I've been thinking a lot about you lately, brother. I'm the same age now as you were when you died, and as I grow and change, I think a lot about the impact Detroit has had on my life, and on yours. You didn't expect to be an icon for a generation of struggle, and you certainly didn't deserve to become an icon like this. I just want you to know that we remember.

And to Lily Chin: thank you for your heart and your organizing. You are missed. I hope you see that we remember your son, and you, and everything you gave us. Rest in power. - CM

Check out the good work they do at 18MillionRising | Activating Asian America

Original link: 18MILLIONRISING (I went to Vincent Chin’s grave today, cleaned it,...)

from poet Bao Phi

from poet Bao Phi, reprinted with permission:

On June 23, 1982, Vincent Chin died from wounds sustained in an attack from two racist working class white men who assaulted him, one holding him in a bear hug so the other could strike him in the head with a baseball bat, four times. As his brains leaked onto the sidewalk, Chin's last words were reportedly "it isn't fair." His wedding guests attended his funeral instead. The men who killed him to this day have not spent a day in jail nor paid any of the $3,700 fine. The judge presiding over the case said "These aren't the kind of men you send to jail."
.
Listen carefully: this is how white people tell you
"you can be anything you want as long as you work hard enough"
does not apply to you or your children.
If you forget, they will apply pressure
on the sidewalk, in front of witnesses.
Lily and David Chin, in laundries and restaurants, in a brush factory
worked all their lives to see their son murdered twice.
If ever I am to stand in front of a judge
to measure the dollar amount of my life
and he cannot decipher
what kind of man I am
and how I will haunt history
I will tell him
I am what I always have been:
I am a dead man.

Start Here

via Nancy Leong on Twitter (Thanks!): "Wondering who's Vincent Chin? Start here: http://www.rememberingvincentchin.com/ It's important bc it's American history. HT @reappropriate #IAmVincentChin"

Interviews with Helen Zia and Jon Jang

Thanks to Francis Wong for finding this. Rick Quan's video interview of Helen Zia for the Chinese Historical Society of America touches on her role in Vincent Chin case. #iamvincentchin http://youtu.be/O-gcBk2ixxY



Helen Zia - YouTube


And then, as an added bonus, I found this great Rick Quan video interview of Jon Jang, also for the Chinese Historical Society of America at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S37UlR7-OlU

Francis Wong on #iamvincentchin

From jazz musician Francis Wong, reprinted with permission:

#iamvincentchin As with so many at that time the killing of Vincent Chin and the absolution of his murderers hit close. I was 25 at the time just two years younger than Vincent. And while what seems a world away from the unemployment and challenging conditions of Detroit, I had faced many potentially violent confrontations with white male students on campus in my undergraduate years at Stanford, particularly as I was doing my political organizing around issues such as the defense of affirmative action and divestment in South Africa. Particularly scary was being accosted by a group of white men in a pick up truck as I posted flyers by myself on campus for Asian American Student Association activities. (I never did that again alone). I became acutely aware of my vulnerability and developed sensitivity for situations that could get out of hand leading to dire consequences. In the decades since, this sense of danger has not abated; facing blatant and hateful behavior on occasion in my travels as a musician in our country. Of course, while I try to be careful, this has not deterred my participation in efforts to assert our humanity in our society. The killing of Vincent Chin led to a very passionate and transformational movement that I am forever grateful to have been a part of. Especially important to me was the opportunity to have a direction in my early career as a musician playing in Jon Jang's ensembles as a means to participate in a watershed period of development in our community. Thanks for listening/reading, I know this is a little long.

Jon Jang on "Are You Chinese or Charlie Chan?" #iamvincentchin

From jazz musician Jon Jang, reprinted with permission:

My personal statement about the murder of Vincent Chin on my second recording Are You Chinese or Charlie Chan? in 1983. This is the first and only recording that has Jon Jang, Francis Wong, Fred Ho, Mark Izu and Anthony Brown. After this recording, all of the Asian American musicians on this recording made their first recording as a leader: Fred (1985), Mark (1992), Francis (1993), Anthony (1996).The confluence of different struggles such as Redress & Reparations, Vincent Chin, Pilipino national movement (Marcos passing in 1986), anti-immigrant legislation, etcJon Jang & the Pan Asian Arkestra formed in 1988.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang on Role of the Media in Vincent Chin Case State Bar of Michigan Legal Milestone - YouTube

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Executive Director American Citizens for Justice, "Role of the Media in the Vincent Chin Case and the Birth of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement" at The State Bar of Michigan's 34th Michigan Legal Milestone commemoration of the Vincent Chin Case "From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry," Friday, June 19, 2009.



Finally got this video cut and uploaded!

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang on Role of the Media in Vincent Chin Case State Bar of Michigan Legal Milestone - YouTube

Remembering Vincent Chin video from Ankur Dholakia then of Detroit News

Thanks to Ankur Dholakia, then at Detroit News, for this clip of the Vincent Chin memorial plaque installation in Ferndale, Michigan, in 2010, which includes a short summary of the case and its significance at the beginning by former American Citizens for Justice Executive Director Frances Kai-Hwa Wang (me).







Here's another video clip of the installation ceremony from WXYZ News that does not want to embed:
Video: Dec 2010 WXYZ News: Plaque honoring murdered Asian man, Vincent Chin, unveiled in Ferndale
wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/plaque-honoring-murdered-man-unveiled-in-ferndale

New Vincent Chin mural in Detroit by gaiastreetart

Check out this new Vincent Chin mural being painted in Detroit by artist Gaia at Grand River Creative Corridor (on Grand River and Rosa Parks), who writes:

Still working through the first day on this piece for@grccdetroit . The primary focus of the piece is a memorial to #VincentChin who passed in 1982 in an altercation that possessed attributes of a hate crime and whose perpetrators who were given lenient sentencing in a plea bargain. Always dreamt of creating this piece, thankful to be able to finally produce it on Grand River and Rosa Parks in Detroit.

Photo by gaiastreetart

and here's the artist, Gaia:
Photo by 1xrun

UPDATE: Here's another more updated photo from grccdetroit on Instagram

We Are Vincent Chin

Check out the new site iamvincentchin.tumblr.com and see what folks are saying this weekend on the 32nd anniversary of the baseball bat beating death of Vincent Chin. #iamvincentchin



We Are Vincent Chin

Remember 32 years of Vincent Chin with #IAmVincentChin! Help trend it! | Reappropriate

From Jenn Fang at Reappropriate:

Yet, there are still those who have forgotten about Vincent Chin. Earlier this year, a columnist for the Detroit News published an op-ed that defended Nitz and Ebens, and blamed Chin for his own death by racial hate crime. Although the Asian American community generated a powerful series of writing refuting the Detroit writer’s revisionist history of the Chin case (including this piece by Frank Wu), the fact that a writer would write such a fallacious article thinking it would not impact an entire community of Asian Americans is proof that we cannot let Vincent Chin’s death be forgotten.

We must remind the world that Vincent Chin was us, and we are him.

Check out her call for action at: Remember 32 years of Vincent Chin with #IAmVincentChin! Help trend it! | Reappropriate

Twitter / reappropriate: Want more resources on the ...

Thanks for the tweet, Jenn Fang at Reappropriate, "Want more resources on the Vincent Chin tragedy? @fkwang curates the definitive blog. http://www.rememberingvincentchin.com/  #IAMVincentChin"



Twitter / reappropriate: Want more resources on the ...

Vincent Chin’s hate crime attack was 27 years ago today | NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog - GIL ASAKAWA'S JAPANESE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON POP CULTURE, MEDIA & POLITICS

from Gil Asakawa 2009 Vincent Chin’s hate crime attack was 27 years ago today | NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog - GIL ASAKAWA'S JAPANESE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON POP CULTURE, MEDIA & POLITICS

Why Vincent Chin Matters - NYTimes.com

from Frank Wu 2012 Why Vincent Chin Matters - NYTimes.com

Race integral part of Vincent Chin case | The Detroit News

per American Citizens for Justice, "The Detroit News agreed to have a rebuttal article following Neal Rubin's article after discussions with AAJA National, and invited Frank Wu to write an article. Here it is in today's Detroit News. http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140506/LIFESTYLE/305060026/Race-integral-part-Vincent-Chin-case

Race integral part of Vincent Chin case | The Detroit News

UNITY Statement on Neal Rubin column in Detroit News

UNITY Statement from David Steinberg, the UNITY president, on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aajamain/permalink/10152457570541474/

UNITY: Journalists for Diversity is disappointed in The Detroit News' decision to publish Neal Rubin’s column arguing that the beating death of Vincent Chin in 1982 had nothing to do with race.

Rubin constructed his argument on a shoddy foundation of poorly reported facts. Most notably, he failed to even mention that Chin’s assailants used racial epithets. UNITY is also troubled by Rubin’s dismissal of a woman’s testimony because she was a stripper.

The Detroit News and Neal Rubin owe its readers an apology and an explanation about why changes were made to the column.

Roundup of responses to Neal Rubin's terrible article in Detroit News dissing Vincent Chin case

I've been keeping a roundup of responses to Neal Rubin's terrible article in Detroit News trying to rewrite the Vincent Chin case here at RememberingVincentChin.com, but I wanted to coallate all the responses into one post as well. Here is a summary, with the best articles on top.

Truly beautiful analysis and convo from the great Jeff Yang with quotes from Helen Zia, Renee Tajima-Peña Curtis Chin and Neal Rubin too about Neal Rubin Detroit News article in context of larger issue of Bundy and Sterling and wishing racism would just go away already.
Pretending racism doesn’t exist won’t make it go away - Quartz

Powerful statement from Stewart Kwoh at Asian Americans Advancing Justice LA:
Detroit News Columnist Trivializes Vincent Chin's Murder and Its Legacy | Asian Americans Advancing Justice - LA

Frank Wu's excellent response against Neal Rubin's aggravating revisionist history in Detroit News. Get all your facts straight here:
The Case Against Vincent Chin | Frank H. Wu

From Jenn Fang at Reappropriate, updated with images of the almost original article vs what it says now (several changes were made after the original time of publication at April 29 1:03 am ish without any editorial note about the updates--bad journalistic practice).
Reporter blames Vincent Chin for his own murder? | @nealrubin_dn | Reappropriate

Yes! The Asian American Journalists Association holding the Detroit News to journalistic standards.
Asian American Journalists Association – AAJA seeks retraction from The Detroit News for Neal Rubin’s column revisiting the Vincent Chin murder case

From Emil Guillermo on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog re that Neal Rubin article in The Detroit News...
Blog: Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Month...and BTW, the race aspects of the murder of Vincent Chin are no urban myth - AALDEF

From the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission Chair Jamie Hsu on the Vincent Chin Murder Case
MDCR - Statement from MAPAAC Chair Jamie Hsu on the Vincent Chin Murder Case

from Julianne Hing in Colorlines on Neal Rubin's article in Detroit News:
Detroit News Columnist Rewrites History of Vincent Chin Hate Crime - COLORLINES

from Steve Han at KoreAm:
Detroit News Reporter Downplays Vincent Chin Murder As A Bar Brawl Gone Awry « KoreAm Journal – Korean America's Premier Magazine

Roundup from Randall Yip in AsAmNews:
AsAm News | Asian Americans react with outrage at attempt to revise Asian American history

And here is my initial respose:

Hey Neal Rubin, According to the juror interviewed in the Academy Award winning documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" the jurors in Detroit federal trial found Ms. Racine Colwell to be THE most credible witness in the whole trial. You also forgot about the part where Ebens and Nitz paid Jimmy Perry $20 to help them hunt down "the Chinaman," before finally finding him at the McDonald's. Yes, Ronald Ebens was employed at Chrysler at the time (and Nitz had recently been laid off)--that was one of the reasons cited by Judge Kaufmann for the lenient sentence, that having a job gives one license to kill--but that does not mean that this case still was not all about race. Rather than relying on random third-hand information for a convoluted argument, you should do some research before launching your revisionist history and irresponsible journalism. The Michigan State Bar has deemed this case a Michigan Legal Milestone. You should talk to them.

--Frances Kai-Hwa Wang


Here is Neal Rubin's terrible article in The Detroit News (Note: the content has been changed several times since first publication April 29, 2014, 1:03 am ish without any editor's notes regarding the updates):
What we all assume we know about the Vincent Chin case probably isn't so | The Detroit News

And here is the almost as terrible article by Charlie LeDuff in the New York Times that started it all with a careless offhand comment re the Vincent Chin case:
A Beating in Detroit - NYTimes.com


UPDATED with two new articles:

Frank Wu response in Detroit News
Race integral part of Vincent Chin case | The Detroit News

UNITY Statement from David Steinberg, the UNITY president, on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aajamain/permalink/10152457570541474/

Reporter blames Vincent Chin for his own murder? | @nealrubin_dn | Reappropriate

From Jenn Fang at Reappropriate again, but updated with images of the almost original article vs what it says now (several changes were made after the original time of publication at April 29 1:03 am ish without any editorial note about the updates--bad journalistic practice).

Reporter blames Vincent Chin for his own murder? | @nealrubin_dn | Reappropriate

AsAm News | Asian Americans react with outrage at attempt to revise Asian American history

Roundup from Randall Yip in AsAmNews:

AsAm News | Asian Americans react with outrage at attempt to revise Asian American history

Pretending racism doesn’t exist won’t make it go away - Quartz

Truly beautiful analysis and convo from the great Jeff Yang with quotes from Helen Zia, Renee Tajima-Peña Curtis Chin and Neal Rubin too about Neal Rubin Detroit News article in context of larger issue of Bundy and Sterling and wishing racism would just go away already.

“Chin didn’t fit anyone’s stereotype of a passive, emasculated Asian male who was going to turn the other cheek,” says Tajima-Peña. “He was raised in Detroit, a guy who was comfortable inside and outside the Chinese community. He played football in high school. His friends told me that he wasn’t the type to take any shit. And here he was in a fight with two white guys who outnumbered and outweighed him….What was going on inside Ebens’s head while Chin, an Asian American guy, was kicking his butt?”

What Tajima-Peña points out is that Chin’s primary provocation was unapologetically defending his identity, that is to say, fighting for his right to be an Asian guy in a decidedly “non-Asian” context. And while I won’t try to guess what was going on inside Ebens’s head, as someone who’s encountered similar situations, I have a pretty good idea what was going on inside of Chin’s.

If he’d laughed off Ebens’s comments or ignored them, he might be alive today. But given the toxic atmosphere of Detroit in the ’80s, it was certainly not the first time he’d heard racial slurs—the environment he lived in was saturated with anti-Japanese rhetoric. So maybe he’d let such callouts slide before and chosen to shake his head, to turn away, to move on. Not that day. Not this time. Celebrating his impending marriage, in a rowdy environment, a little bit drunk, Chin decided he wouldn’t let things pass.

And for that, he paid with his life—a life that, to Judge Charles Kaufman, was worth less than the down payment on a new Chrysler.

Pretending racism doesn’t exist won’t make it go away - Quartz

Detroit News Reporter Downplays Vincent Chin Murder As A Bar Brawl Gone Awry « KoreAm Journal – Korean America's Premier Magazine

from Steve Han at KoreAm:

A local columnist’s attempt at downplaying the severity of the alleged race-motivated murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 is eliciting an angry reaction from the Asian American community.

Detroit News Reporter Downplays Vincent Chin Murder As A Bar Brawl Gone Awry « KoreAm Journal – Korean America's Premier Magazine

Detroit News Columnist Rewrites History of Vincent Chin Hate Crime - COLORLINES

from Julianne Hing in Colorlines on Neal Rubin's article in Detroit News:

Rubin’s version of the story is a serious challenge not just to popular understandings of an already controversial hate crime case, but also a real threat to closely protected narratives of Asian-American history. He should have known that wading into the debate with such an incendiary revision would require more diligent sourcing.

Detroit News Columnist Rewrites History of Vincent Chin Hate Crime - COLORLINES

Blog: Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Month...and BTW, the race aspects of the murder of Vincent Chin are no urban myth - AALDEF

From Emil Guillermo on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog re that Neal Rubin article in The Detroit News...

But Rubin offers up nothing new. He doesn't interview any principals in the matter who can credibly counter the "urban myth" he feels must be debunked.

His source was a reporter turned journalism professor who covered the trial. And Rubin chooses to discredit the testimony of a stripper, but not because her statements were baseless, but because he can sex up his column by saying she entered the courtroom bottomless.

End result: Nothing is proven. Rubin writes a column in a lame attempt to diminish the hate behind the murder of Chin. And in doing so, he has drawn the ire of many Asian Americans.

Blog: Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Month...and BTW, the race aspects of the murder of Vincent Chin are no urban myth - AALDEF

Detroit News Columnist Trivializes Vincent Chin's Murder and Its Legacy | Asian Americans Advancing Justice - LA

powerful statement from Stewart Kwoh at Asian Americans Advancing Justice LA:

His effort to correct the historical record would be more persuasive had he bothered to interview any of the individuals directly involved in either the initial criminal trial or the subsequent federal civil rights trial – including me (I served as the only out-of-town counsel to American Citizens for Justice, the Detroit-area group fighting for justice for Chin).

I would have been able to tell him that our investigations identified a number of dancers who witnessed the racial epithets, all of whom provided testimony that was used in the first federal civil rights prosecution. (Rubin’s article names only one dancer.) Their accounts, as well as other eyewitnesses’, also indicated that Chin’s killers exhibited aggressively violent behavior, both inside and outside the bar. Rubin’s claim that Chin was the aggressor (“Outside, Chin attempted to prolong the fight”) is therefore hard to believe.

Most damningly, Rubin gives short shrift to the fact that the first federal civil rights trial, tried in a Detroit court, with a Detroit jury, resulted in a conviction of one of Chin’s two murderers. The verdict was overturned on a technicality and a retrial was conducted, far away from Detroit, in front of an all-white jury in Cincinnati that absolved the killer. A more credible attempt at reexamining this case would have discussed these facts in greater detail.

Rubin’s own biases are suggested when, in mentioning that Chin and his murderers had been drinking, he provides a blood alcohol reading only for Chin. Why? Were the statistics not available for the perpetrators? Did Rubin even attempt to find out? Unlikely, because finding out may have undermined the narrative that he presents as the real story: that a drunken, out-of-control Chin brought his death upon himself.

Detroit News Columnist Trivializes Vincent Chin's Murder and Its Legacy | Asian Americans Advancing Justice - LA

MDCR - Statement from MAPAAC Chair Jamie Hsu on the Vincent Chin Murder Case

From the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission:

Statement from MAPAAC Chair Jamie Hsu on the Vincent Chin Murder Case
Contact: Vicki Levengood 517-241-7978 Agency: Civil Rights

As a metro Detroiter, an Asian American, and Chair of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission, I am compelled to correct Neal Rubin's understanding of the record in the 1982 Vincent Chin baseball bat murder case. When Ebens and Nitz set out to find Vincent Chin after a melee in the Fancy Pants bar, it does not appear that the assailants cared what sort of Asian American Vincent Chin was – but they were undoubtedly anti-Asian. Chin was called "nip" and "Chink" and other epithets. Ebens and Nitz paid Jimmy Perry $20 to find "those Chinese guys." There is no doubt in our collective minds that if Vincent Chin was white, he would be alive today. The case record, complete with the racial epithets, clearly establishes a racial animus on the part of the defendants. To re-characterize the killing of Vincent Chin as simply a bar room brawl and not a hate incident 32 years after the case is revisionist history.

At the Michigan Asian Pacific Affairs Commission, we both practice and advocate for racial understanding and tolerance, and laud the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to the betterment of the state of Michigan. While we on the commission and in the APA community are focused on these positive efforts, we cannot forget that the civil rights event that brought so many of us together was the need to seek justice for Vincent Chin at a time when others were unwilling to face the reality that such hate lives among us. Vincent did not deserve to die at the age of 27, and neither history nor his memory should be subject to this sort of revisionism now.

Jamie Hsu, Chair, Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission

MDCR - Statement from MAPAAC Chair Jamie Hsu on the Vincent Chin Murder Case

The Case Against Vincent Chin | Frank H. Wu

Frank Wu's excellent response against Neal Rubin's aggravating revisionist history in Detroit News. Get all your facts straight here:

The Case Against Vincent Chin | Frank H. Wu

Asian American Journalists Association – AAJA seeks retraction from The Detroit News for Neal Rubin’s column revisiting the Vincent Chin murder case

Yes! The Asian American Journalists Association holding the Detroit News to journalistic standards.

Asian American Journalists Association – AAJA seeks retraction from The Detroit News for Neal Rubin’s column revisiting the Vincent Chin murder case

Reporter blames Vincent Chin for his own murder? | @nealrubin_dn | Reappropriate

Jenn Fang's great response to Neal Rubin's ridiculous article in Detroit News:

Reporter blames Vincent Chin for his own murder? | @nealrubin_dn | Reappropriate

Response to: What we all assume we know about the Vincent Chin case probably isn't so | The Detroit News

I hesitate to give his article any more clicks, but here is my initial respose:

Hey Neal Rubin, According to the juror interviewed in the Academy Award winning documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" the jurors in Detroit federal trial found Ms. Racine Colwell to be THE most credible witness in the whole trial. You also forgot about the part where Ebens and Nitz paid Jimmy Perry $20 to help them hunt down "the Chinaman," before finally finding him at the McDonald's. Yes, Ronald Ebens was employed at Chrysler at the time (and Nitz had recently been laid off)--that was one of the reasons cited by Judge Kaufmann for the lenient sentence, that having a job gives one license to kill--but that does not mean that this case still was not all about race. Rather than relying on random third-hand information for a convoluted argument, you should do some research before launching your revisionist history and irresponsible journalism. The Michigan State Bar has deemed this case a Michigan Legal Milestone. You should talk to them.
--Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Here is Neal Rubin's terrible article in The Detroit News (Note: the content has been changed several times since first publication April 29, 2014, 1:03 am ish without any editor's notes regarding the updates):
What we all assume we know about the Vincent Chin case probably isn't so | The Detroit News

And here is the almost as terrible article by Charlie LeDuff in the New York Times that started it all with a careless offhand comment re the Vincent Chin case:
A Beating in Detroit - NYTimes.com

Note: This article has been updated to include links to the two original articles that started all this.

Karen Wan, "The Partner Track"

Today: Ninth annual University of Michigan Law School Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) Origins Banquet, Michigan League Vandenberg Room. Dinner, music, and the announcement of the recipients of the 2014 APALSA Public Interest Fellowships. Keynote speaker, Helen Wan, attorney and author of The Partner Track.

University of Michigan Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month

Click on link see events: University of Michigan Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month

2014 APIA High School Conference

The APIA High School Conference is almost here! March 22 at University of Michigan. (Sorry, same day as Solo Ensembles)

More info at: umichhsc2014 | schedule

Asian American Journalists Association – Vincent Chin Memorial Scholarship

 From the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA):

In honor of Chin and thanks to the generosity of Joe Grimm, a former newsroom recruiter and staff development editor for the Detroit Free-Press, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) has established a college scholarship. This scholarship rewards an accomplished, community-minded student journalist for an insightful, articulate essay related to Chin and his legacy.

Essays due May 9, 2014.

Asian American Journalists Association – Vincent Chin Memorial Scholarship

Listening to Jon Jang's 1984 "Are you Chinese or Charlie Chan"

Listening to Jon Jang's 1984 "Are you Chinese or Charlie Chan" tonight. Wow.

Are you Chinese or Charlie Chan? Charlie was a white man.
With his two buckteeth and his eyes pulled back,
Vincent Chin lies dead from his racist attack.
Are you Chinese or Charlie Chan? Charlie was a white man.

More at: The Sound of Struggle: Black Revolutionary Nationalism and Asian American Jazz | Loren Kajikawa - Academia.edu

Have you heard about the Vincent Chin case? Michigan edition

Today we asked our class how many were from Michigan. Over 60%. How many had heard of the Vincent Chin case? Zero. wow.

Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People: Helen Zia

Re-reading Helen Zia's "Asian American Dreams" for the first time in a long time and realizing that I now know almost everyone mentioned in the Vincent Chin chapter. #Chills.

Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People: Helen Zia: 9780374527365: Amazon.com: Books