The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwide
Four decades after Vincent Chin was killed by autoworkers who blamed Asian manufacturers for industry decline, activists fight to ensure Chin is not forgotten.
Two white autoworkers bludgeoned 27-year-old Chinese American Vincent Chin to death with a baseball bat during his bachelor party in Detroit in 1982, but his loved ones’ cries for justice fell on deaf ears.
Twelve days passed before any media outlets reported Chin’s killing by men who blamed Asian manufacturers for the downfall of the city’s mainstay auto industry, and none acknowledged the racism in his killing at the time. The defendants pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to three years’ probation. Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman reasoned, “These aren’t the kind of men you send to jail.”
The injustice spurred Asian Americans to unite across ethnic and cultural lines. Hundreds protested the trial’s outcome in downtown Detroit. Chin’s mother traveled the country sharing his story and pushing for a federal civil rights prosecution.
More than four decades later, activists still fight to ensure Chin is not forgotten, saying his story inspires advocacy nationwide. Law students reenact his trial, Hollywood adapted his story into a movie and Asian Americans remember the impact of his killing on their struggle for racial justice and equality.
Vincent Chin's mother, Lillie Chin, at Detroit's City County Building in 1982.Bettmann Archive via Getty Images“For a whole generation of Asian American activists, the Vincent Chin case was the case that got them involved,” says writer and filmmaker Curtis Chin. “It was the thing that brought them to the table.”
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