Vincent Chin Remembrance sparks debate of racism in Hawaii - Yahoo! News

from honolulu tv kitv.com on #vc30 in honolulu

Vincent Chin Remembrance sparks debate of racism in Hawaii - Yahoo! News

Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, a Bay Area Conversation (with images, tweets) · CAAM · Storify

CAAM has Storified the #vc30 tweets. Fabulous.

Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, a Bay Area Conversation (with images, tweets) · CAAM · Storify

Roundup 5 of Vincent Chin articles wrapping up #vc30 | apaforprogress.org

A 5th collection of essays and media coverage of the 30th anniversary of the brutal baseball bat beating death of Vincent Chin for APAforprogress.org:

Roundup 5 of Vincent Chin articles wrapping up #vc30 | apaforprogress.org

Chicago is the World » Asian Pacific American Community Reflections Thirty Years after Beating Death of Vincent Chin

My article was terrible last week. so i scrapped the whole thing and instead put together a "greatest hits" of the Vincent Chin 30th anniversary commentaries. all the important APA voices are here--Frank Wu, Emil Guillermo, Gil Asakawa, Bao Phi, Jeff Yang, Angry Asian Man Phil Yu, Stewart Kwoh--even Michael Moore (who isn't APA but must read).

click on link for more: Chicago is the World » Asian Pacific American Community Reflections Thirty Years after Beating Death of Vincent Chin

Emil Guillermo: Ronald Ebens, the Man Who Killed Vincent Chin, Apologizes 30 Years Later

Emil Guillermo's article in the Huffington Post, with more awesome emil amok!

Emil Guillermo: Ronald Ebens, the Man Who Killed Vincent Chin, Apologizes 30 Years Later

Scott Kurashige: Ronald and Me: How Michael Moore Shaped the Legacy of Vincent Chin

Scott Kurashige nests Michael Moore's 1987 interview with Ronald Ebens into the larger narrative of the time.

Scott Kurashige: Ronald and Me: How Michael Moore Shaped the Legacy of Vincent Chin

When Words Fail: Careful Framing Needed in Research on Asian Americans | Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

from Hyphen Magazine about the Pew Report press release from an advisor on the committee on how that happened. Excerpt:

The report had many commendable aspects, including presenting new data on the six largest Asian American groups, adding to our knowledge from past demographic studies andsurveys. It presented a trove of graphs, maps, and tables for the largest national-origin groups. Unfortunately, it also prioritized questions asked of Asian Americans -- regarding their parenting styles and their own stereotypes about Americans -- that seemed more concerned with Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother than with the priorities of Asian Americans themselves, either as revealed in past surveys or as articulated by organizations serving those communities. And the demographic analysis did not adequately cover national origin groups whose economic outcomes are far less promising.

More concerning than the Pew report, however, was the sensationalist headline on the press release that introduced the study to news media: Asians Overtake Hispanics in New Immigrant Arrivals; Surpass US Public in Valuing Marriage, Parenthood, Hard Work. These few words carried sway in hundreds of newspaper articles in the first two days of the report’s release, provoking outrage among broad swaths of the Asian American community, including many researchers, elected officials, and community organizations.

As one of 15 advisors to the project, I felt blindsided by the press release. Words failed me as I read it for the first time, as we had not gotten a chance to review it. The dominant narrative in the release reinforced the frame of Asians as a model minority, stereotypes that the advisors had strongly objected to in the only meeting of the group two months ago. What we contested in private then, and what others are challenging in public now, is a monolithic frame that often renders invisible the struggles of many who fall under the Asian American label.

What made this press release particularly troubling, however, were the invidious comparisons it seemed to invite, of a racial group that is overtaking Hispanics and other Americans in a metaphorical race for national supremacy. As many critics have rightly noted, this zero-sum frame has been invoked time and again since its formal articulation in 1966 -- when Japanese and Chinese Americans were valorized in relation to other minority groups, and yet still viewed as perpetually foreign. And the model minority myth has often had detrimental effects, from inviting resentment and violence against Asian Americans to masking problems internal to the group. 

Click link for whole article: When Words Fail: Careful Framing Needed in Research on Asian Americans | Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Detroit and the Legacy of Vincent Chin | Solidarity

from University of Michigan historian Scott Kurashige from 2002, reappearing again this year...

As I think about the legacy of Vincent Chin and work to ensure that his life was not lost in vain, I consider the problem of racist violence to represent only the tip of the iceberg. Though my thoughts on how to put the Chin case into the context of Asian American and Detroit history are still a work-in-progress, I offer three points for us to consider.

 Detroit and the Legacy of Vincent Chin | Solidarity

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

from Hyphen Magazine, a detailed summary of the case and reflections on whether or not we can construct our own racial identity.

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

Crossing Boundaries and Standing Up for Justice Together. NoH8. Remembering Vincent Chin - NAM EthnoBlog

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in New America Media's Ethnoblog:

What does one wear to a gay pride event?

Something fabulous, certainly. But I am such an awkward dresser, I worry and I fret.

Oh! If only I had one of George Takei’s “It’s OK to be Takei” t-shirts. That would have been the perfect connector between the Asian American and LGBT communities. Instead, I opt for urban black, add my most fabulous big red hat, and try as best as I can to channel George Takei’s black t-shirt cool.

Think cool. Gotta be cool.

The very cool Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey had asked me to speak about the Vincent Chin case at Ferndale Pride‘s Light the Night against Hate, a family-friendly candle-lit walking tour around downtown Ferndale for folks from all backgrounds to “learn more about historical and contemporary issues surrounding hate in our schools and communities, including hateful speech in social media and online bullying…[and] to visibly unite against hate.”

It was a beautiful and warm Friday night, lots of folks downtown, laughter and music spilling out of all the restaurants and bars.

click link for whole article: Crossing Boundaries and Standing Up for Justice Together. NoH8. Remembering Vincent Chin - NAM EthnoBlog

#VC30 Rivals Obama’s for Largest Google Hangout

The National Townhall via Google Hangouts organized by APAforprogress, Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, was so cool to be a part of! Google unofficially says that we were the second largest Google Hangout ever, second only to President Obama's Google Hangout. Thanks to Keith Kamisugi for this nice mention in foundAsian.org.

#VC30 Rivals Obama’s for Largest Google Hangout

30 years later, remembering Vincent Chin | Michigan Radio

Radio interview with Frank Wu and Teresa Tran

30 years later, remembering Vincent Chin | Michigan Radio

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project

What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you? How does the Vincent Chin case inspire you?

Brian Chen ‏@bchenn27 via Twitter:
#VC30 reminds us of how far we have come and how much further we still have to go @fkwang

send me your thoughts, too! Tag @fkwang and #VC30

30 years later: From the tragedy of Vincent Chin's killing came hope, unity | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Detroit Free Press reports on the American Citizens for Justice Remembrance at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights June 23, 2012. Excerpt:

"There's a man walking around right now who basically murdered someone, and he's never spent a day in jail," said lawyer Jim Shimoura of American Citizens for Justice, a group that pushed the federal government to intervene after the sentences were handed down.

Shimoura, 59, was a young lawyer when Chin was killed. As Ebens left the federal court in Cincinnati in 1987 a free man, Shimoura told the Free Press then that it was a day of shame.

Today, Shimoura said, everything is different yet the same. The country has its first black president and two Asian Americans in the cabinet. But discrimination is still there, just more subtle and quiet than before, he said.

Shimoura nodded when the comparison was made between Chin's case and that of Florida teen Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, who killed him.

"Even though that's progress, it's still the underlying politic at the local level," he said.

30 years later: From the tragedy of Vincent Chin's killing came hope, unity | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Community, friends mark 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Detroit News reports on the American Citizens for Justice Remembrance at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights June 23, 2012. Excerpt:

Vincent Chin was a neighborhood friend to Denise Yee Grim when she was growing up. They shared a mutual love of comic books, enjoyed shooting pool and going to martial arts class together. But after her friend was attacked and killed in Highland Park while out celebrating his bachelor party, he became a catalyst for personal activism.

"We should be angry. What happened to Vincent is wrong and it's an insult to us," said Grim, who is now the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce in Rochester Hills. "We need to band together to put pressure on our legislators, both locally and nationally. We do live in these communities, we do work here. We are talking about our civil rights."

Community, friends mark 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

1982 killing of Vincent Chin remembered » Michigan » Associated Press

From the Associated Press, reprinted widely: Excerpt:

More than 100 people gathered at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights, near Detroit, for speeches and personal recollections about Vincent Chin, 27, who was celebrating his upcoming wedding with pals when he was attacked and killed in Ferndale because of his race. Instead of going to a wedding in June 1982, Chin's family went to his funeral.

"If you're below 40, you were in grade school when this happened. If you are below 30, it's not part of your existence," said Jim Shimoura, a Detroit-area lawyer. "The case has almost reached the status of an urban legend. Right now, it's not just cars, it's the entire economy that seems to be under threat. Any of us, even in 2012, could just as easily be targeted just as Vincent was 30 years ago."

The success of Japanese automakers in the U.S. had stirred hostility against imported cars and Asians. Two men, including an autoworker, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Chin's death and were placed on probation, a sentence that outraged Asian-Americans.

"When my teachers said, 'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you,' I knew they were exactly wrong," said Frank Wu, a Detroit-area native and dean of Hastings law school at the University of California. "The words lead to the sticks and stones. The killing of Vincent Chin and the aftermath made all that clear."

1982 killing of Vincent Chin remembered » Michigan » Traverse City Record-Eagle

30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death marked - San Jose Mercury News

Mural-Detroit Chinatown

Check out these images of the 2003 Mural-Detroit Chinatown, which Detroit Summer and Detroit Asian Youth Project are going to spruce up today!

a tribute to lily chin

Check out this mural to Mrs. Lily Chin at Pitzer College: a tribute to lily chin

My favorite tweet from #vc30:
jozjozjoz ‏@jozjozjoz
Stewart Kwoh: Lily Chin was 1 of my heroes bc she did not sit back & wait for justice. She fought for it. #VincentChin #vc30

Asian Americans Respond to Pew: We’re Not Your Model Minority - COLORLINES and more

And since there are so many problems with the Pew Report (released on June 19), many of which were discussed during the National Townhall, I want to include a few links to those critiques too:

Asian Americans Respond to Pew: We’re Not Your Model Minority - COLORLINES

Angry Asian Man: the problem with "the rise of asian americans"

Prof. Larry Shinagawa: ‘Pew Research Study Very Problematic and Prone to Generalities and Stereotypes’

Celebration of the Legacy of Vincent Chin-Party and Action in Detroit's Historic Chinatown

From Detroit Summer and Detroit Asian Youth Project: Come help us restore the mural, plant flowers, bbq, learn about Vincent Chin and play!

Celebration of the Legacy of Vincent Chin-Party and Action in Detroit's Historic Chinatown

Vincent Chin 30th Year Remembrance, Detroit | www.EmilyLawsin.com

From Emily Lawsin, schedule of events in metro-Detroit, plus a photo of the mural in Detroit Chinatown

Vincent Chin 30th Year Remembrance, Detroit | www.EmilyLawsin.com

#VC30 Rivals Obama’s for Largest Google Hangout

From Keith Kamisugi at foundasian.org. Neat!

#VC30 Rivals Obama’s for Largest Google Hangout

'The Man Who Killed Vincent Chin' by Michael Moore | MichaelMoore.com

OMG. MUST READ. Before "Roger and Me," Michael Moore interviewed of Ronald Ebens 1987. I have chills. Can't even begin to excerpt...

'The Man Who Killed Vincent Chin' by Michael Moore | MichaelMoore.com

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project during VC30 National Townhall Google Hangout

What does the #vincentchin case mean to me? How does the #vchin case inspire me? Tweet w tag @fkwang and #vc30 for rememberingvincentchin.com

Ellie ‏@ErrieWirriams
@fkwang #vincentchin case inspired me to work w/ a friend to start an API heritage club in school and start dialogue on race issues.

Jenn Reappropriate ‏@reappropriate
@fkwang I Am a Child of the Vincent Chin Tragedy |http://reappropriate.co/?p=2115 #VC30 #neverforget RT "What does the#vincentchin case mean to u?"

Edward Hong via Facebook: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to me? - It means that I can never assume ignorance, hatred & violence is beyond my skin color. It means that I can never remain silent when injustice happens to not only me as Asian American but to all who suffer.

L Chang via email: I read the column in the NY Times (by Frank H. Wu) this week on the anniversary of Vincent Chin's murder. I remember quite well this terrible event at the peak of the Japanese hate wave back in the 80s. I was in college then. Being of Chinese descent myself and having learned in school how Japanese-Americans were interned in camps during WWII, I started getting uneasy. I started getting very self conscious of my ethnic identity. My uneasiness hasn't gone away, in fact has gotten stronger. It's not popular being Asian nowadays. Believe me, I've experienced my fair share of discrimination and stereotyping in this country. One learns to grow a thick skin, but things should not be this way.

Emil Amok: Ronald Ebens, the man who killed Vincent Chin, apologizes 30 years later - AALDEF

Emil Guillermo's exclusive interview with Ronald Ebens

For the 30th anniversary, after writing about the case for years, I just wanted to hear him express his regret, so that I could put the case behind me.

So I called him up. And he talked to me.

In an exclusive telephone interview, Ebens, a retired auto worker, said killing Chin was "the only wrong thing he ever did in his life."

Blog: Ronald Ebens, the man who killed Vincent Chin, apologizes 30 years later - AALDEF

Why Vincent Chin Matters - NYTimes.com

Frank Wu on Why Vincent Chin Matters for New York Times. Even ties Vincent Chin case to results of Pew study. Yes! Excerpt:

Vincent Chin has lived longer in memory than reality. Today China, not Japan, is on the rise. Another recession has come to an uneasy close. Detroit limps along. Asian-Americans, through increasing civic participation, have asserted themselves as members of the body politic and reached some of the highest offices in government, academia and business.

Asian-Americans who have achieved success owe a debt to the agitators who followed the Chin case, often defying their own cultural backgrounds as well as the stereotype of passivity and quiescence. Everyone who cares about the promise of our increasingly diverse nation ought to see in this case the possibility of social change arising from tragic violence.

Why Vincent Chin Matters - NYTimes.com

VC30: Watch Now! | apaforprogress.org

Click here to access APAforProgress' APA Nationwide Townhall via Google Hangout Today! Amazing lineup! Complete schedule and speaker bios too. I'll see you there soon.

VC30: Watch Now! | apaforprogress.org

Installation « The 1700% Project

Amazing performance art installation speaking out against hate crimes

Installation « The 1700% Project

1,001 Reasons I Love Movies: (#27) Who Killed Vincent Chin? | You Offend Me You Offend My Family

In case you haven't seen "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" here it is again thanks to the You Offend Me You Offend My Family team. A must see for every Asian American and more.

1,001 Reasons I Love Movies: (#27) Who Killed Vincent Chin? | You Offend Me You Offend My Family

from Patricia Wong Hall, about her book, "Anti-Asian Violence in North America," on hate crimes, APAs, Asian Canadians https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742504585

Greetings --
I just found your url on Vincent Chin. I've been doing research on
hate crimes, APAs and Asian Canadians for decades (3rd link below is
my book); have given many talks, published a number of articles to
educate people. You've asked "What does Vincent Chin mean to you?" I
compiled and edited this volume in the 90s because nothing like it
existed back then (or even today). It's a topic that is hard for most
folks, but I figured someone had to do it. Vincent's story is in my
book, along with many others. I signed on my co-author (lawyer,
Victor Hwang) to help w/ the manuscript when I had to go to India to
do some graduate research and thankfully, he agreed to come on board.

Several civil rights lawyers contributed articles, along w/ writers,
professionals, and others. Howard Zinn was one of the book reviewers;
also several lawyers and professors. A former human rights
commissioner in Canada wrote an item for the volume. I wrote the
foreword and epilogue. After I attended a writers' conference in
Canada in the 90s, I decided to include Asian Canadians in this book.

There are a number of events commemorating Vincent this month. Please
pass along my flier below and ask people to get a copy of the book
from rowmanlittlefield.com (rather than on Amazon) so that thecollective writers will, perhaps earn a few bucks in royalties.

I Am a Child of the Vincent Chin Tragedy « Reappropriate

from Jenn of Reappropriate. Excerpt:

But we, the children of the Vincent Chin tragedy, are also fortunate to have grown up in a community made stronger by the bonds forged in the wake of Vincent Chin’s death. We are each gifted with a defined sense of being a part of a larger Asian-American movement, one that has evolved into a strong, vocal, and highly-responsive group of advocates on a wide range of issues affecting our people, including racism, healthcare, immigration, and pop culture stereotyping. As an Asian-American blogger, I feel kinship with a widespread, yet close-knit, community of other activists, commentators, and academics; even though most of us have never met face-to-face, it feels as if we are a family connected through the shared narrative of the Asian-American experience.

I Am a Child of the Vincent Chin Tragedy « Reappropriate

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) Statement

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) Statement on 30th Anniversary of Vincent Chin’s Murder


ncapaonline.org/index_61_2112547073.pdf

Remembering Vincent Chin | The White House

From the very cool Thomas E. Perez is Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Excerpt:

In a diverse, democratic nation like ours, we all must be able to live and work in our communities without fear of being attacked because of how we look, what we believe, where we are from, or who we love. Despite our nation's great progress in advancing civil rights, brutal assaults made more vicious by racial epithets still occur in big cities and small towns. Crosses are still burned on the lawns of people minding their own business. Mosques, synagogues and churches still are desecrated and sometimes destroyed. Incidents that belong only in our history books still appear in the pages of our newspapers.

The prosecution of hate crimes must be one element in a broader effort of community engagement and empowerment. We need prevention, intervention and reporting strategies to move communities forward in a meaningful way. We have had to battle these acts of bigotry for too long, and in the 21st century, we must focus on eradicating hate from our communities altogether, stopping these acts before they occur.

Prosecuting hate crimes therefore is a top priority for the Attorney General and the Civil Rights Division, and we have expanded our efforts to prosecute hate crimes. So far, the Division has indicted 9 cases and convicted 34 defendants under the Shepard-Byrd law.

Vincent Chin, James Byrd, Jr., and Matthew Shepard remain powerful reminders of why, in 2012, we continue to stand beside those in our nation who cannot make their voices heard alone. We will continue to enforce these essential laws to ensure that all individuals can realize the promise of equal justice under the law.

Remembering Vincent Chin | The White House

WDET Shows - The Craig Fahle Show - 30th Anniversary of Vincent Chin's Death

This radio interview just in from Frank Wu via Curtis Chin:

Craig [Fahle] speaks with Attorney and Activist Jim Shimoura, who played a pivotal role in galvanizing Detroit's Asian-American community, Prasanna Vengadam from American Citizens for Justice and Frank Wu, Chancellor and Dean at UC Hastings, about the time since Vincent Chin's death and what this anniversary means for civil rights and the Asian-American community.

WDET Shows - The Craig Fahle Show - 30th Anniversary of Vincent Chin's Death

Vincent Chin 30th Year Remembrance Events in Detroit, June 23-24, 2012 « poetry & tsismis: emily's blog

Emily Lawsin will be performing a poem at the gravesite of Vincent Chin during the 30th year remembrance this Saturday, June 23, 2012. From Emily:

See below for the Detroit-area commemorations happening this weekend. Hope to see you, and if not, I hope you are doing your own part to remember Vincent Chin; help stop hate crimes and anti-Asian violence. Rest in Peace, Vincent Chin (May 18, 1955 – June 23, 1982).

click on link for more details: Vincent Chin 30th Year Remembrance Events in Detroit, June 23-24, 2012 « poetry & tsismis: emily's blog

Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, A Bay Area Conversation

San Francisco event this Saturday with Mayor Ed Lee, Helen Zia, Norman Fong, Ling Woo Liu, Vincent Pan, Zahra Billoo, Angela Chan. Wow!

Join us on 6/23 for a lively discussion and Q&A with leaders of local civil rights organizations (Vincent Pan - CAA, Ling Woo Liu - Korematsu Institute, Zahra Billoo - CAIR SFBA, Angela Chan - Asian Law Caucus) moderated by R.J. Lozada from APEX Express! Please RSVP here: http://vc30sf.eventbrite.com/ Tickets: $10 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? #vc30 10:45am - DOORS OPEN 11:15am - BROADCAST of Vincent Chin 30, National Google Hangout with Zahra Billoo speaking on location: http://www.apaforprogress.org/vc30 12pm: OPENING REMARKS: Edwin Lee, Mayor of San Francisco 12:30pm - 1:10pm: FILM SCREENING: "Vincent Who?" Food and light refreshments available in the lobby. 1:30pm - 3:00pm: LIVE DISCUSSION and Q&A with Bay Area Civil Rights Leaders: Hate Crimes and Bullying Moderated by R.J. Lozada, contributor to APEX Express Speakers Vincent Pan (Chinese for Affirmative Action, Executive Director) Ling Woo Liu (Korematsu Institute, Executive Director) Zahra Billoo (Council on American-Islamic Relations - SFBA, Executive Director) Angela Chan (Asian Law Caucus, Staff Attorney in Criminal Justice Reform Program) Helen Zia (Asian American activist/author) and Norman Fong (Chinatown Community Development Center, Executive Director) will be sharing their experiences and reflections on Vincent Chin to kickoff the live discussion! Presented by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP-SFBA) Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Co-sponsors (To be updated) Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) • Asian Law Caucus (ALC) • Korematsu Institute • Council on American-Islamic Relations SFBA (CAIR SFBA) • Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) • Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) • Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) • South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA - NC) • Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley (APABA-SV) • San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association (SFLRLA) • Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS) • Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA SF) • Chinese American Heroes Media sponsors APEX Express KPFA 94.1 on Thursdays from 7-8pm Contact: mike@apaforprogress.org

Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, A Bay Area Conversation

Angry Asian Man Vincent Chin links

lots of links from Angry Asian Man re various Vincent Chin related content (more on his facebook). Although many of these links are already here at rememberingvincentchin.com, you will want to click to get his surefire commentary. Also, he will be moderating the Nationwide Townhall Google Hangout on Saturday!

vincent chin 30: standing up then and now, june 23 6.04.2012. vincent chin 30: standing up then and now, june 23. This month marks the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's murder. Thirty years later, in light of the ... blog.angryasianman.com/2012/.../vincent-chin-30-standing-up-then-and. html

one of the guys who killed vincent chin is "hanging in there" 1 day ago ... With this week marking the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin'smurder, I've been reading a lot of poignant commemorations and commentaries ... blog.angryasianman.com/2012/.../one-of-guys-who-killed-vincent-chin-is. html

who killed vincent chin? 4 days ago ... What's up, New York. On Wednesday, June 20, the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence and Asian CineVision bring you a screening of Who ... blog.angryasianman.com/2012/.../caaav-presents-who-killed-vincent-chin. html

read these blogs 6.17.2012. read these blogs · 30 years later: Stewart Kwoh recalls Vincent Chin case: APALC co-founder Stewart Kwoh reflects on how the Vincent Chin case ... blog.angryasianman.com/2012/06/read-these-blogs_17.html

angry reader of the week: juliet shen Jun 15, 2012... chair for the New York State Young Democrats Caucus of Color, and host for the Albany watch party for the Vincent Chin Google+ Hang Out. blog.angryasianman.com/2012/.../angry-reader-of-week-juliet-shen.html

Vincent Chin. (Fort Minor remix by Model Minority) - YouTube

from last year, but this music video is well worth watching again:

Vincent Chin. (Fort Minor remix by Model Minority) - YouTube

EmilAmok: Can we all get along? Recalling injustice from Rodney King to Vincent Chin - AALDEF

Pure Emil Guillermo, connecting Rodney King to Vincent Chin, "That's a lot of social injustice to recall in one paragraph, let alone one week." for aaldef.org

Blog: Can we all get along? Recalling injustice from Rodney King to Vincent Chin - AALDEF

30 years later, Vincent Chin's family awaits justice in fatal beating | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Detroit News article about Vincent Chin case. interviews Ebens, family and friends of Vincent Chin, including APAP's Curtis Chin and APACC's Denise Yee Grim. Excerpt:

At 72, he lives in arid Henderson, Nev., far from Metro Detroit and the fatal beating he committed here 30 years ago this week.

Ebens, an autoworker, saw Vincent Chin as a symbol of Japan's rise and Detroit's decline in the car industry and swung a baseball bat at the Chinese-American's skull on a Highland Park street while his stepson, Michael Nitz, held Chin down.

Four days after the attack on June 19, 1982, Chin, 27, of Oak Park died of his injuries.

The attack sparked a civil rights movement that galvanized Asian-Americans across the country.

Ebens, reached by phone at his home this week, says he regrets the attack.
"It was an unfortunate incident and should never have happened," he said. "I'm sorry it happened."

Asked how he's doing now, he responds casually. "I'm hanging in there," he said. "But I'm getting tired. I'm an old man."

30 years later, Vincent Chin's family awaits justice in fatal beating | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Guest commentary: 30 years after Vincent Chin's killing, the challenge to fight bigotry remains | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Excellent commentary in Detroit Free Press from Hassan Jaber, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

So, yes, we can and must call on those in positions of power, from public officials to news organizations, to take a higher road. But as citizens of a country built on immigration, freedom and diversity, we also know what's right; it's in our DNA. And we must take the lead.

Every one of us has a responsibility to fight prejudice, to challenge bias, to think critically about what we read, see and hear. If we want our public officials to change their tones, their divisive messages must fall on our deaf ears.

If Vincent Chin, Trayvon Martin or Matthew Shepard came back to us today, would they find this nation a better place? The answer lies within each of us. It's time to renew our commitment to fight bigotry and bias, to pledge ourselves to civil and human rights. That must start with each of us before it can spread to society at large.

Guest commentary: 30 years after Vincent Chin's killing, the challenge to fight bigotry remains | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Remembering Vincent Chin | freep.com | Detroit Local News | Detroit Free Press

 Photos from the Vincent Chin case. See if you can spot Soh Suzuki from the 20th anniversary!

Remembering Vincent Chin | freep.com | Detroit Local News | Detroit Free Press

Is Your Font Racist? (Tao Jones) - Speakeasy - WSJ

Jeff Yang connects something as seemingly innocuous as the ching-chong font to the 30th anniversary of the brutal baseball bat beating death of Vincent Chin. Yes! that's what I've been saying...

Real people, on the other hand, really get hurt. I’m not saying a font, by itself, is going to draw blood. I’m not saying a stereotype, by itself, is going to kill someone. Sticks and stones and all that. But there’s a psychological toll from regular exposure to ching-chong babble, slant-eyed caricature, cheesy font choices and face-painted minstrelsy. And because these things, in the aggregate, paint a dimensionless and dehumanized picture of Asians, they make it easier for the desperate, unstable or hateful to bully, assault — or worse.

And dehumanization can have deadly consequences.

 Is Your Font Racist? (Tao Jones) - Speakeasy - WSJ

Asian-Americans speak out against hate crimes, bullies - Philly.com

from Philadelphia--connecting Vincent Chin case, Danny Chen, South Philly High School.

Asian-Americans speak out against hate crimes, bullies - Philly.com

Oakland Co. commissioner honors Vincent Chin's legacy | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey presents proclamation to American Citizens for Justice recognizing Vincent Chin case. Excerpt:

"The lessons of Vincent Chin's death holds critical relevance today as we embrace the growing diversity of our community while addressing the challenges of hate crimes, anti-Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Latino and South Asian biases, gender-based and sexual violence, discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and those with disabilities, and bullying; and all forms of racial and religious discrimination and prejudice," read the proclamation.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120621/METRO02/206210456#ixzz1yRsXjeuD

Oakland Co. commissioner honors Vincent Chin's legacy | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

PrideSource - Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey commemorates 30th Anniversary of Vincent Chin's murder

Oakland CountyCommissioner Craig Covey and Oakland County proclamation commemorating 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin case. Today!

PrideSource - Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey commemorates 30th Anniversary of Vincent Chin's murder

Vincent Chin LA City Proclamation - YouTube

check out this video from KCAL-9 Los Angeles - Report on Vincent Chin's Death. Interview with Curtis Chin.

Vincent Chin LA City Proclamation - YouTube

The Civil Rights Lessons of Vincent Chin’s Murder - COLORLINES

I sound so fierce in this Colorlines Magazine article by Julianne Hing! Excerpt:

Sharing our stories and knowing our history is a necessary, political act. The effort to keep the lessons of Chin’s death and the fight for justice from being swallowed up by the unstoppable passage of time is not about any romantic nostalgia—understanding the past is key to making sense of the ongoing fight for justice today, activists say.

“The facts of the story are never going to change. It’s never going to have a happy ending, but it can move people to get indignant. It can move people to action,” said Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, a Michigan-based writer and activist. It’s often said that in the the aftermath of Chin’s murder, the Asian-American community was born. Asian Americans, who tended to identify by ethnicity first, came to unite around a new political identity. Chin became a symbol in the Asian-American civil rights movement, a reminder that the struggle for justice is never quite over. Wang organized the Vincent Chin Postcard Project to collect exactly these sorts of stories. Among Wang’s favorite responses was one which asked: “How long will it be before we forget Trayvon Martin like we forgot Vincent Chin?”

Images and language matters. Dehumanizing language and images make it easier to attack those who are treated as less than fully human. Whatever the community, whoever the target, demagoguery comes with a real human cost. “People who do this are putting our lives at risk,” said Wang. She cited this year’sfearmongering political ads which played on American fears about the economic ascendance of Asian countries. In transparently coded images and words, politicians exploit those fears, but not without with great risk. “People see those ads and even if they don’t fully understand the message of the ad they take away this fear of China, and that makes it dangerous for those of us real Asians who are walking around on the street.”

Stewart Kwoh of APALC and Zahra Billoo of CAIR quoted too.

click here for the whole article: The Civil Rights Lessons of Vincent Chin’s Murder - COLORLINES

Roundup of Vincent Chin articles so far

Roundup of Vincent Chin articles so far this 30th anniversary posted at APAs for Progress blog

click here: http://www.apaforprogress.org/roundup-vincent-chin-articles-30th-anniversary

A national town hall to mark the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s death | NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog - GIL ASAKAWA'S JAPANESE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON POP CULTURE, MEDIA & POLITICS

Gil Asakawa reflects on why the Vincent Chin case 30 years ago still resonates for him and for all of us. Excerpt:

Vincent Chin was beaten with a baseball bat 30 years ago on June 19 in a Detroit suburb, and died four days later.

At the time, I was three years out of art school, managing a paint store, and was a budding young rock critic writing for a Denver newspaper. I didn’t follow any news coverage about the attack on Vincent Chin, and I was clueless about the importance of his tragic death. I was still a “banana” — yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. Like the name of the 2009 documentary film about the impact of Chin’s murder on the Asian American community, if you had asked me then about him, I would have said, “Vincent who?”

Today, Vincent Chin is very much on my mind.

In the decades since his death, I’ve become aware and much more appreciative of my ethnic roots, culture and history as a Japanese American, which I used to take for granted. I’ve also become much more aware of my place in the much larger Asian American community.

click on link for the whole article: A national town hall to mark the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s death | NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog - GIL ASAKAWA'S JAPANESE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON POP CULTURE, MEDIA & POLITICS

30 years later: Who remembers Vincent Chin? | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Tom Watkins reflects on Vincent Chin case. with great photo of APACC's Denise Yee.

30 years later: Who remembers Vincent Chin? | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Detroit Vincent Chin remembrance events

just received from Stephanie Lily Gray Chang:

American Citizens for Justice & Association of Chinese Americans event
(See full list of cosponsoring organizations on attached flyer)

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2012

A 30th Year Remembrance
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Gravesite visit at 2:30 p.m. in Detroit (Forest Lawn Cemetery)
Chinese Community Center, 32585 Concord Dr, Madison Heights, MI
Keynote speaker: Frank H. Wu, Chancellor/Dean, Univ. of California Hastings School of Law
Panel discussions on the historic case, community action, role of media, and the relevance of the movement for today's issues
**Space is limited - RSVPs needed**
Contact: prasanna@americancitizensforjustice.com, hwangr@aol.com

Detroit Asian Youth Project events:
SATURDAY, JUNE 23
Tour of Asia America in Detroit: Then and Now
2:45pm-6:30pm
Meet at: St. Raymond Church 20103 Joann St., Detroit at 2:45pm
(across from Nsoroma Institute)
You can also join us at Vincent Chin's gravesite at 3:30pm
Tour created and led by youth from the Detroit Asian Youth Project

SUNDAY, JUNE 24
3pm-7pm
Celebrate, Restore, and Create in Detroit’s Historical Chinatown
Peterboro St. & Cass St., Detroit
Food Included!
Fun brought to you by Detroit Summer and Detroit Asian Youth Project

PLEASE RSVP and send questions to dayproject@gmail.com or 313-454-1329

Chicago is the World » Crossing boundaries and standing up for justice together. NoH8. Remembering Vincent Chin.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang (RememberingVincentChin.com) and Nkosi Figueroa (GoAffirmations.org) at Ferndale Pride’s Light the Night against Hate. Photo courtesy of Light the Night against Hate.

What does one wear to a gay pride event?

Something fabulous, certainly. But I am such an awkward dresser, I worry and I fret.

Oh! If only I had one of George Takei’s “It’s OK to be Takei” t-shirts. That would have been the perfect connector between the Asian American and LGBT communities. Instead, I opt for urban black, add my most fabulous big red hat, and try as best as I can to channel George Takei’s black t-shirt cool.

Think cool. Gotta be cool.

The very cool Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey had asked me to speak about the Vincent Chin case at Ferndale Pride‘s Light the Night against Hate, a family-friendly candle-lit walking tour around downtown Ferndale for folks from all backgrounds to “learn more about historical and contemporary issues surrounding hate in our schools and communities, including hateful speech in social media and online bullying…[and] to visibly unite against hate.”

It was a beautiful and warm Friday night, lots of folks downtown, laughter and music spilling out of all the restaurants and bars.

click on link for more:Chicago is the World » Crossing boundaries and standing up for justice together. NoH8. Remembering Vincent Chin.

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

Asian American activist and spoken word poet Bao Phi tells it!

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.

click on link for more: Vincent Chin: 30 Years Later | StarTribune.com

30 years later: Stewart Kwoh recalls Vincent Chin case | Asian Pacific American Legal Center

APALC's Stewart Kwoh recalls the Vincent Chin case and Mrs. Chin.


Excerpt: “She was smiling, but I could see in her eyes that she had lost everything,’’ he recalled of the visit. “What happened was not just a tragedy for her and her family, but an indictment of the U.S. justice system.”

30 years later: Stewart Kwoh recalls Vincent Chin case | Asian Pacific American Legal Center

The Murder of Vincent Chin - 30 Years Later - New America Media

Article in New America Media from  Ravi Ventkataraman in Iexaminer.org. Excerpt:

...For the first time, the Asian American community crossed ethnic boundaries and fought together for justice. Groups such as Chinese for Affirmative Action, Japanese American Citizens League, Organization of Chinese Americans, Filipino American Community Council of Michigan, and Korean Society of Metropolitan Detroit staged rallies and organized demonstrations. They demanded in writ to politicians, the press and the U.S. Department of Justice for rightful punishment for the two men violating Chin’s civil rights. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) took initiative and spoke up.
“We tried to develop a campaign to get us and the American Citizens of Justice to bring a federal civil rights prosecution against the two killers,” Steven Kwoh, president and executive director of APALC, said. Together, the APALC and American Citizens of Justice (ACJ) sent a memorandum outlining the case to the U.S. Department of Justice....

click on link for whole article: The Murder of Vincent Chin - 30 Years Later - New America Media

Crime Without Punishment: Why the Death of Vincent Chin Resonates Today | InCultureParent

an article I wrote last year for InCultureParent.com for the 29th anniversary...

Before I came to Michigan for graduate school, the only thing I knew about Michigan was that it was where Vincent Chin was killed. My parents’ Japanese-American neighbors warned me to sell my father’s Toyota 4Runner and buy a Ford Bronco. I asked about safety as much as I did about academics before I decided to come. 


click on link for more: Crime Without Punishment: Why the Death of Vincent Chin Resonates Today | InCultureParent

Ferndale Pride's Light the Night Against Hate

I will be speaking at Ferndale Pride's Light the Night Against Hate at the Vincent Chin Memorial Plaque at Woodward and Nine Mile, Ferndale, Michigan, Friday, June 15, 2012, 8:30 pm.

I was told that Saturday's march (Dyke Hike) is going to be dedicated to the memory of Vincent Chin.


Here is also an article I wrote last year for the 29th anniversary of the brutal baseball bat beating death of Vincent Chin for InCultureParent.com, "Crime without Punishment: Why the Death of Vincent Chin Resonates Today."

Photograph: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang with Oakland County Commissioner Craig Covey at Ferndale Pride's Light the Night Against Hate, Ferndale, Michigan, June 15, 2012.

Harvard Kennedy School of Government Asian American Policy Review Journal Articles

From 2010, "Embracing Mistaken Identity: How the Vincent Chin Case Unified Asian Americans" by Frank H. Wu and "From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: Commemorating the Vincent Chin Case" (and the Role of the Media) by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Asian American Policy Review Journal

click on link for more: isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic855678.files/2010 - AAPR.pdf

Covey's Corner: Full Text of the Mayor's Remarks, Vincent Chin Memorial

Former Mayor of Ferndale Craig Covey's remarks on the installation of the Vincent Chin memorial plaques at Woodward and Nine Mile December 22, 2010:

excerpt: OVER THE CENTURIES ALMOST EVERY GROUP THAT HAS MADE THIS PLACE HOME HAVE SUFFERED POOR TREATMENT AND INDIGNITIES, INCLUDING THE IRISH, THE JEWS, CATHOLICS, AND SO MANY OTHERS....EQUAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA IS NOT A GIVEN. IT IS NOT A GUARANTEE…RATHER…IT IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE. IT TAKES VIGILANCE AND EFFORT AND ENERGY. WE MUST ALWAYS STRIVE TOWARD FAIR AND EQUAL JUSTICE, KNOWING THAT IT MAY NEVER BE FULLY ACHIEVED.

click on link for whole text: Covey's Corner: Full Text of the Mayor's Remarks, Vincent Chin Memorial

Covey's Corner: Why We are Proud to Host the Vincent Chin Memorial in Ferndale

from former Mayor of Ferndale Craig Covey about the installation of the Vincent Chin memorial plaque at Woodward and Nine Mile in December 2010:

Excerpt: Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey, who will oversee Wednesday’s dedication, commented: “The murder of Vincent Chin was a hate crime made worse by the failure of our legal system to live up to the American promise of justice for all. This memorial symbolizes a shared community value: The People of Ferndale join others in standing up for acceptance, fairness and equality for everyone.”


click on link for whole text: Covey's Corner: Why We are Proud to Host the Vincent Chin Memorial in Ferndale

Thirty Years Later: The Killing Of Vincent Chin - The Takeaway

Roland Hwang of American Citizens for Justice discusses Asian American civil rights and the impact of Vincent Chin'a murder on the 30th anniversary of his death on the radio this morning.

Thirty Years Later: The Killing Of Vincent Chin - The Takeaway

Emil Amok on AALDEF Blog: Vincent Chin? Remembering Ronald Ebens-the guy who got away with murder - AALDEF

Emil Guillermo's great article last year for the 29th anniversary...

I've got my call into Ronald Madis Ebens. I've found him, heard his voice, and left my message on his answering machine. And when he calls me back, maybe he'll say something to make us all feel better.

I'm not holding my breath.

click on link for more: Blog: Vincent Chin? Remembering Ronald Ebens-the guy who got away with murder - AALDEF

Asian Pacific Americans for Progress presents Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now A nationwide Google Hangout* with leading civil rights leaders from around the country

all the details about the APAP Google Hangout on June 23 for the 30th Anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin:
apaforprogress.org

My VC Lesson Plan - 1 | apaforprogress.org

Check out Chris Wong's Vincent Chin Lesson Plan on APAforProgress.org. Neat!

My VC Lesson Plan - 1 | apaforprogress.org

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

from the Twitter feed:


@fkwang #vchin Vincent Chin reminds me that love will always trump hate


if you want to send me your thoughts via twitter: 
Tag @fkwang & #vchin to answer What does Vincent Chin case mean to you? How does Vincent Chin case inspire you?

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

"It means remembering we are still not in a post-racial society. There is still a long road until we get there. We must stay active."

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

"It means there is so much injustice in my own community/backyard that I'm unaware of - it's important to stay informed & aware of what's going on."

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

"It means that others could potentially murder me with what's analogous to a slap on the hand and that has to change."

Remembering Vincent Chin Postcard Project: What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

What does the Vincent Chin case mean to you?

"it disgust me to see people get away with this type bullshit. his life is only worth $3,000?! justice needs to be served."