Vincent Chin was a 27-year-old Chinese American raised in Metro Detroit. A week before his wedding, June 19, 1982, he went to the Fancy Pants strip club in Highland Park with a few buddies for his bachelor’s party. There, they encountered two autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, who, like many at the time, blamed the Japanese for the U.S. auto industry’s troubles. At the time, the American auto industry was in a crushing recession and much of the hostility was directed at Japan. Mistaking Chin for a Japanese American, two white autoworkers began to harass Vincent with racial epithets and a fight broke out. Even though Chin was not Japanese and worked in the auto industry himself as a draftsman, Ebens was heard saying, “It’s because of you little m—f—s that we’re out of work,” as well as other anti-Asian racial epithets.
The men were thrown out of the bar, and the fight continued in the parking lot and into the night. Ebens and Nitz searched for Chin and his friends, and upon finding them after a half hour pursuit, Nitz held Chin in a bear hug while Ebens struck Chin’s head four times with a baseball bat, cracking his skull.
Vincent Chin died four days later. His wedding guests attended his funeral instead.
On March 18, 1983, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz pleaded guilty to killing Vincent Chin. Judge Charles Kaufman sentenced them to 3 years probation and fined them $3,780. Explaining the light sentence, Judge Kaufman stated, "These aren't the kind of men you send to jail . You fit the punishment to the criminal, not the crime."
Neither man spent a single day in jail for beating Vincent Chin to death.
The brutal murder and light sentence outraged the Asian American community. In Detroit on March 31, 1983, Asian Americans founded the American Citizens for Justice to lobby for a federal trial for Chin's murderers. The campaign was spearheaded by journalist Helen Zia, lawyer Liza Chan, and Lily Chin - Vincent Chin's mother. Rallies in Detroit, San Francisco, and Los Angeles awakened sleeping Asian American communities and attracted national media attention.
The national API mobilization succeeded in winning a federal trial. On June 5, 1984, federal prosecutors charged Ebens and Nitz with violating Vincent Chin's civil rights. After 23 days of deliberation, a Detroit federal jury acquitted Nitz but found Ebens guilty of violating Chin's civil rights. At last, after 2 years of struggle, justice came for Vincent Chin.
Defense lawyers won a federal retrial for Ebens and Nitz in Cincinnati. On May 1, 1987, the jury acquitted Ebens and Nitz of violating Vincent Chin's civil rights. Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz never spent a full day in jail for the murder of Vincent Chin. Crushed by the failure of the justice system, Lily Chin left America and returned to China.
Although the movement for a federal trial did not gain justice for Vincent Chin, it was far from a failure. The movement gave a resonant political voice to previously silent Asian American communities across the nation. The murder of Vincent Chin was the seminal event that sparked the Asian American civil rights movement. In his death, Vincent Chin was immortalized as a symbol of the Asian American struggle for acceptance. �
Significance of Vincent Chin case today:
Asian Pacific American coalitions critical
Multiracial coalitions critical
APA Victims and Civil Rights movements started
Families can now testify during sentencing
Mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines
Danger of changing venues understood
Hate crimes prosecuted at federal level
Education and awareness beforehand key
American Citizens for Justice formed 1983
Resources:
May 31, 2011: Crime Without Punishment: Why the Death of Vincent Chin Resonates Today by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in InCultureParent.com
http://www.incultureparent.com/2011/05/5009/
June 2011: Vincent Chin? Remembering Ronald Ebens-the guy who got away with murder by Emil Guillermo at Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund:
http://aaldef.org/blog/vincent-chin-remembering-ronald-ebens-the-guy-who-got-away-with-murder.html
Killing Spawned Asian American Civil Rights Movement--34th Milestone to Highlight Vincent Chin Case By Roland Hwang in Michigan Bar Journal, May 2009
http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1505.pdf
The Role of the Media in the Vincent Chin Case and in the Birth of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement, State Bar of Michigan 34th Michigan Legal Milestone--From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry, Comments by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, American Citizens for Justice Executive Director
June 19, 2009
http://www.multiculturaltoolbox.com/American_Citizens_for_Justice/MediaChin.html
Jan 2, 2011: ADVENTURES IN MULTICULTURAL LIVING by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com: The legacy of the Vincent Chin case for the Asian American civil rights movement and all of us http://annarbor.com/passions-pursuits/the-legacy-of-the-vincent-chin-case-for-the-asian-american-civil-rights-movement-and-all-of-us/
June 20, 2010: ADVENTURES IN MULTICULTURAL LIVING by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in AnnArbor.com: Remembering Vincent Chin 28 years later http://www.annarbor.com/passions-pursuits/remember-vincent-chin-28-years-later/
June 19, 2002: "I'm Vincent Chin!": The Hate Crime that "Created Asian America"--Remembering June 19, 1982 as the Defining Moment for Asian American Political Identity By Stewart D. Ikeda, IMDiversity.com Asian-American Village
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/asian/history_heritage/archives/ikeda_vincent_chin_2002.asp
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
Remembering Vincent Chin, Detroit News Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68k0R3uJoRg
Video: 2009 CNN Richard Lui piece on Vincent Chin case: "Groom-to-be clubbed to death"
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/crime/2009/05/28/lui.vincent.chin.cnn.html
“Vincent Who” by Roland Hwang at IMDiversity.com Asian American Village: http://imdiversity.com/villages/asian/civil_human_equal_rights/hwang_vincent_chin_0408.asp
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