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

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

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,...)

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.

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

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

RIP Frances Kathryn Pearson Korematsu 1921-2013

Our thoughts are with Karen Korematsu and family.

http://korematsuinstitute.org/2013/11/in-memory-of-frances-kathryn-pearson-korematsu-1921-2013/

What Do Asian-Americans Owe The Civil Rights Movement? : NPR

Cool article as we head into the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington
What Do Asian-Americans Owe The Civil Rights Movement? : NPR