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Remembrances
June 19 2007
Have we forgotten? 25 years ago, this unfortunate
incident brought together the Chinese Community in Hawaii and throughout North
America. I could still remember calling people to raise money to donate to the
"Vincent Chin Fund". At that time, the Japanese American organizations in the
United States has given us tremendous support to pursue justice through the
legal system.
While we may have different background, different religious belief or different
political affiliations, Asian American is still a minority in the United States.
This may be a good time to pause and think how we can work together with "one"
voice to ensure the same unfortunate event will never happen to any of us.
Johnson Choi, MBA, RFC.
President - Hong Kong.China.Hawaii Chamber of Commerce
15 Collaboration Partners with 20,000 members Worldwide
 The Model Minority
Awakened - The Murder of Vincent Chin - by Christine Ho
"IT ISN'T FAIR." These words were Vincent Chin's last before he lost
consciousness. On June 19, 1982, Chin, a 27 year-old Chinese American, was
beaten to death with a baseball bat in Detroit by two Caucasian men. The
perpetrators were Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, who blamed Japanese carmakers
for Detroit's problems in the auto industry. Ebens was heard saying, "It is
because of you little motherf*ckers that we're out of work!"
In Michigan v. Ebens (1983), Ebens and Nitz negotiated a plea bargain and
received two years probation and $3,700 in fines each. The Asian community
became outraged by these lenient sentences and mobilized to get "Justice for
Vincent Chin." They were successful in the fact that the United States Justice
Department took up the case and charged Ebens and Nitz with violating Chin's
civil rights. Unfortunately, the story ends with Ebens and Nitz not serving any
time in jail for the death of Chin. Yet, the incident of Vincent Chin, while not
victorious in the courts, was successful in educating on hate crimes committed
against Asians, mobilizing the Asian community, and setting up mechanisms by
which other incidents would be better equipped to utilize the law as a means to
justice. Looking beyond the surface failure of the Vincent Chin case, one can
draw parallels to the women's rights movement in Michael McCann's Rights At Work
(1994). While the women's rights movement failed in not achieving all of their
goals, they still managed to raise a consciousness for rights, which can be
paralleled to the awakening of the Asian American community to the need for
mobilization. Thus, both movements, while not successes on their own, were
successes in the bigger picture.
THE VINCENT CHIN CASE was the first of its kind for the Asian American
community. While it failed in the courts, it was a monumental case in its
awakening of the community. While working for the convictions of Ebens and Nitz,
the Asian American community had to utilize the media, raise money, drum up
support nation wide, organize rallies and protests, garner support from elected
officials, and educate the public.
All this activity awakened the Asian American community to seeing the need for
an organizational model for mobilization. Then after the failure in the courts,
the Asian American community did not relinquish. Vincent Chin became a symbol of
the discrimination inflicted upon Asian Americans in modern society. It became a
driving force of motivation when other racist acts occurred against Asians, such
as those against Jim Loo and Kao Kuan Chung. When these incidents occurred, the
organizational model that had been set up for Vincent Chin was replicated and
applied to these new incidents. The Asian American community vowed never to let
another Vincent Chin incident occur. Thus, Vincent Chin's death was not entirely
in vain.
WHILE CELEBRATING Chin's bachelor's party at Fancy Pants strip bar, Chin and his
friends, Robert Sirosky, Gary Koivu, and Jimmy Choi, ran into Ebens and his
stepson, Nitz. "Ebens began making racial and obscene remarks toward Chin
calling him a 'Chink' and a 'Nip' and making remarks about foreign car imports."
At this point, Ebens called Chin Japanese and made the comment noted earlier
blaming Chin for the current lay-offs in Detroit. The fact that Ebens did not
care or seem to know what ethnicity Chin was, Chinese or Japanese, would prove
important later in the civil rights cases. General jostling and fighting then
occurred between Chin and Ebens with Nitz joining in. The doorman of the bar
then broke up the fight and separated the two parties. Outside of the bar, Chin
challenged Ebens to finish their fight. Ebens then proceeded to Nitz's car and
retrieved a baseball bat from the trunk. At the sight of the baseball bat, Chin
and Choi both fled from Ebens and Nitz. The two men met at McDonald's restaurant
and hoped to get protection from the crowd. While still looking for Chin, Ebens
and Nitz ran into Jimmy Perry, who they solicited to help them find a "Chinese
guy" in exchange for $20.
In the car, Perry recalled Ebens and Nitz talking about catching a "Chinese guy"
and "busting his head" when they caught him. Eventually, Ebens and Nitz
approached Choi and Chin in the parking lot of a supermarket next to McDonald's.
Chin saw that Ebens was still carrying the baseball bat and yelled, "Scram."
Choi then escaped but Nitz grabbed Chin in a bear hug. Chin managed to break
loose and ran away. But Ebens caught up with him and hit Chin several times with
the bat on the back and head causing Chin to fall on the ground. Fighting
continued with Ebens as the aggressor. Police officers from McDonald's then came
to the scene and ordered Ebens to stop. Chin then was taken to Henry Ford
Hospital. He suffered two lacerations on the back left side of his head and
abrasions on his shoulder, chest, and neck. He lapsed into a severe coma, and
after emergency surgery, he was pronounced brain dead. Four days later on June
23, 1982, the ventilator through which he was breathing was removed and he died.
THE SAME DAY, Ebens and Nitz were charged with second-degree murder. The case
went before Wayne County Circuit Judge Charles Kauffman. On March 17, 1983,
Ebens pleaded guilty and Nitz no contest to reduced charges of manslaughter.
Judge Kauffman sentenced them to two years probation and fined them each $3,700.
Up to this point, the case had not received much media attention. With these
lenient sentences, the Asian community went into an uproar, and media coverage
became substantial. Headlines such as "Two Face Probation for Beating Man to
Death" started to appear in Detroit and national papers. Protests against
Kauffman's ruling started forming in the city. Kauffman defended himself by
saying:
We're talking here about a man who's held a responsible job with the same
company for 17 or 18 years and his son, who is employed and a part time student.
These men are not going to go out and harm somebody else. I just didn't think
that putting them in prison would do any good for them or society. He tried to
further justify his decision by pointing to the fact that the two men lacked a
previous criminal record. But the "vilification" of Judge Kauffman had already
been put in place by the press coverage.
TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SENTENCES from Judge Kauffman were announced, American
Citizens for Justice (ACJ) was formed to pursue justice for Chin. Lisa Chan, a
Detroit attorney, spearheaded this interracial coalition. This organization was
the first of its kind in the fact that it was a spontaneous mobilization against
a hate crime committed against an Asian American. This organization became
instrumental in the victories and losses of the movement for the justice of
Vincent Chin. The ACJ would be active in all aspects of the fight for justice
for Chin. As demonstrated by the vilification of Judge Kauffman, the ACJ would
use the media to effectively sway the public into having sympathy for the
tragedy of Vincent Chin and then to demanding justice. Other aspects the ACJ and
other members of the Asian community would use to make the case for "Justice for
Vincent" were protests and rallies, collaboration across the nation for support,
fundraising, appeals to elected officials, and lastly and most importantly, the
use of the law.
IN CONTINUING THEIR EFFORTS IN MEDIA COVERAGE, the ACJ started utilizing the
media to educate the public on the atrocity of Vincent Chin. The papers started
quoting outraged members of the Asian community. "You can kill a dog and get 30
days in jail, 90 days for a traffic ticket. This was premeditated. They had to
go to their car to get the baseball bat. The Chinese community, especially the
younger generation, want to see justice done." This quote was from Henry Yee, a
restaurant owner in the city's Chinatown area. Vikki Wong, Chin's fiancŠŐ, was
quoted as saying, "How can you commit murder and get away with nothing? I never
committed a crime in my life. Does that mean I could kill and get away with it?"
"The sentences amount to a $3,000 license to commit murder provided that you
have a steady job or if you are a student," according to Kin Yee. Amid all the
uproar, Kauffman eventually said, "In all my years, I have never received such
vilification. This was just another case. This kind of thing happens regularly
in the Recorder's Court and here [in court]." As soon as the Asian community
heard of these sentences, they rallied together against the sentences resulting
in even Judge Kauffman feeling the pressure from the media and the public.
Asian Americans for Justice and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance were
instrumental in this rally. Harold Fong, president of the local chapter of the
Chinese American Citizens Alliance was quoted, "If the roles were reversed, and
the victims were white and the murderers were Asian, I ask you, would the
punishments be the same?" This quote was all over the papers and undoubtedly
influential at rallying Asian communities to the cause of Vincent Chin. In Los
Angeles, "about 300 Asian Americans were joined by Mayor Tom Bradley at a City
Hall rally "to demand justice for Chin." Branching out, the ACJ coordinated
efforts nationally to have rallies to remember the death of Vincent Chin.
"AMERICAN CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE, a Detroit-based civil rights organization, is
seeking nation-wide support?/a>" The ACJ started to mobilize Asian communities
across the nation in support of achieving "Justice for Vincent Chin." In July
1983, the ACJ started a tour of California to seek support. Lily Chin, Vincent's
mother and sole survivor, also spoke on the tour. The tour was co-sponsored by
the Southern California Justice for Vincent Chin Committee in Los Angeles and
Asian Americans for Justice in San Francisco. As the grieving mother, Lily Chin
was instrumental in drumming up sympathy for the Vincent Chin case, and the ACJ
utilized her appeal as a part of their media strategy. In 1984, the Asian Law
Caucus gave her an award for her efforts and later, she met with Reverend Jesse
Jackson and other community leaders to help raise money for the case. A benefit
in memory of Chin was also held on August 14, 1983, which drew more than 200
people with each paying $25 each. As the umbrella organization in charge of
fundraising, the ACJ raised between $50,000 and $75,000 to help finance
litigation by September 1983.
ASIDE FROM ITS EDUCATION CAMPAIGN through the use of the media and protests, the
ACJ started to look to the legislative and executive branches in light of the
Vincent Chin incident. Representatives from the ACJ spoke at the founding
session of the Asian-Pacific Caucus of the Democratic National Committee in
Detroit to discuss the implications of the Chin case for people of Asian
descent. The ACJ also called on "members of Congress and Democratic presidential
candidates to use their influence against racially suggestive campaigns directed
toward Asian imports." Increasing Asian sentiment had risen at this time due to
the imports of Japanese cars and the low in the U. S. economy. Representative
John D. Dingell from Michigan had recently complained about American jobs being
taken by "those little yellow people." Michigan Senator Donald W. Reigel, Jr.
also linked auto import problems with the invasion of Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese. This appeal to those in elected offices was made to directly confront
these Michigan representatives and to call attention to Ebens' blaming Japan and
Chin for the layoffs of the Detroit auto industry. This strategy of turning to
elected officials would later become important in hate crime legislation.
LASTLY, THE ACJ LOOKED TO THE COURTS as a means to justice for Vincent Chin. Due
to Judge Kauffman's unwillingness to change his lenient sentences, the ACJ had
to go through another means of redress. They, therefore, focused their attention
on the federal courts and got the Justice Department involved. The ACJ in
conjunction with the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) worked to get
federal charges filed against Ebens and Nitz.
The federal charges were based on the grounds of Ebens and Nitz violating Chin's
civil rights. The ACJ and the OCA appealed to the U. S. Justice Department to
investigate the case. In July 1983, the ACJ, the OCA, along with Lily Chin
talked with William Bradford Reynolds, the head of the Civil Rights Division in
the Justice Department. The ACJ also submitted a report to the Civil Rights
Division outlining the factual and legal bases for the prosecution of Ebens and
Nitz on civil rights grounds. Also due to the ACJ's appeal to elected officials,
many Californian congressmen contributed to the pressure put on the Justice
Department. As a result, the Justice Department asked the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) to examine the Chin case. In particular, the FBI questioned
the Highland Park police to determine if Ebens and Nitz were racially motivated
to slay Chin. The ACJ and the OCA were successful in utilizing all of the media
attention the case had received and the legislative support to persuade the
Justice Department to investigate the case for civil rights violations.
AFTER THE EXTENSIVE FBI INVESTIGATION, U. S. Attorney Leonard Gilman announced
that the Justice Department would convene the grand jury to present the case of
civil rights violations on the part of Ebens and Nitz. On November 2, the
federal grand jury indicted Ebens and Nitz on charges of conspiring to violate
Chin's civil rights and criminally violating Chin's civil rights. Ebens and Nitz
faced lifetime imprisonment as the maximum penalty. The ACJ and the OCA had
effectively lobbied the Justice Department to press charges against Ebens and
Nitz. In using the media, the support of the other branches, and the outcry of
the public, the ACJ was able to attempt to start the process of redress on this
case through the law.
TWO DAYS LATER, JUDGE KAUFFMAN WAS QUOTED, "The Asian community owes me some
gratitude for bringing their community together under one cause." Despite his
bitterness, Judge Kauffman was correct in his assessment that the protest of his
lenient sentences in its unfairness did unite the Asian community. Even though
the Justice Department claimed that politics had nothing to do with the
indictments, the protests by the Asian community seemed to have clearly
compelled the Justice Department to look into the matter. President of the ACJ,
Helen Zia commented, "Clearly politics had something to do with this [the
indictments]. If we hadn't gone on a nationwide campaign, this case wouldn't
have gone anywhere." Zia was also recognizing the invested role the ACJ and the
Asian community played in getting the Chin case pursued through the law. Even
Judge Kauffman admitted that "there was political pressure brought to bear" on
the Justice Department. But the goal of justice was still not reached at this
point as Lisa Chan pointed out, "I think this is the first step in obtaining
justice. This is the first battle we've won, but the war is still going on and
we have a lot of work to do."
ON JUNE 13, 1984, THE TRIAL, U. S. V. EBENS, began before U. S. District Judge
Anna Diggs-Taylor. The press coverage during the trial was also very slanted
against Ebens and Nitz. One article entitled "Witness Remembers Defendant
Wielding Bat in Beating Death" quoted Morris Cotton as saying, "Ebens was
holding the bat as if he was trying to hit a home run." The U. S. Prosecutor
closed with, "This was a lynching, but with a bat instead of a rope." This quote
was all over the papers. The media was yet again educating the public on the
hate crimes committed against Asian Americans. On June 28, after thirteen hours
of deliberation, the jury found Ebens guilty of aiding and abetting in violating
the civil rights of Chin but acquitted him of conspiring to violate Chin's
rights. The jury acquitted Nitz of both of the charges. Yet again, Lily Chin,
Chin's mother, got into the papers saying that the verdict was unfair because
Nitz was acquitted. "One is not fair. Two killed my son. It's not fair that only
one is guilty." On September 18, Judge Diggs-Taylor sentenced Ebens to 25 years
in prison. At this point, the ACJ seemed to have been successful in its fight
for "Justice for Vincent Chin" by using the law.
UNFORTUNATELY, THIS VICTORY WAS NOT TO LAST FOR LONG.
U. S. v. Ebens was appealed to the Sixth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati. On September 11, 1986, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously that
Judge Diggs-Taylor erred "by not letting the defense present evidence tapes of
interviews lawyer Lisa Chan conducted with three prosecution witnesses."
The panel reversed U. S. v. Ebens and remanded for a new trial. The defense
claimed that Chan had improperly coached the witnesses. Here is an excerpt from
the transcript of the tapes:
Lisa Chan: The purpose of this meeting tonight it so we can help each other
remember exactly what happened, how it happened, when it happened, and all the
minor details. We were just going over - I was talking with Eddie Hollis this
afternoon, the parking lot attendant, the black guy, I don't know when he came
in. I think - but according to his version of the facts, it's quite different
from what I have so far understood them to be. So, I would center on my facts on
what you, three of you, say they are and somehow try to either fit all the other
facts around these, or it they don't fit, then I have to watch out, you know,
there's something else, somebody saying something else.
THE THREE-JUDGE PANEL FOUND this excerpt especially telling of how Chan
improperly coached the three witnesses. According to the Court of Appeals, the
testimony of a black man, who claimed Ebens cursed him racial slurs, also should
have been permitted. Thus, partially due to the ACJ's spokesperson, Chan, the
case was reversed and remanded for a new trial.
AT A NEWS CONFERENCE ON SEPTEMBER 19, Lily Chin pleaded emotionally, "Please I
want everybody to tell the government not to drop the case. I want justice for
Vincent. I want justice for my son." The conference ended with Chin carried away
in a chair while sobbing uncontrollably. Yet again, due to the press coverage
and politics, the Justice Department announced it would pursue a new case with
the same charges against Ebens and Nitz. Ebens' lawyer, Frank Eaman, said he was
not surprised at the decision to retry the case, calling it "a political
decision made because of political pressure." Eaman was recognizing the role the
ACJ played in the continuation of the case. Four and a half years after the
death of Vincent Chin, the Asian community had mobilized to a point where they
could use the law as an avenue to justice.
THE NEW TRIAL WAS THEN SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 21, 1987 with a change of venue to
Cincinnati due to the publicity surrounding the case. Once again, the Asian
community rallied together for justice for Chin. On the eve of the retrial, "a
prayer service for peace and against racism" was held in Cincinnati at St.
Monica Roman Catholic Church. Speakers ranged from the Roman Catholic,
Episcopal, and Bahai churches, Japanese Buddhists, and Alvin Sikes from the
civil rights group Justice Campaign of America. The Roundtable of Americans of
Asian Descent was also founded a month prior to the trial to bring Asian support
together. At the new trial of Ebens and Nitz, the Asian community once again
attempted to garner support and gained positive media coverage to achieve the
ends of justice.
ON MAY 1, 1987, the U. S. District Court jury in the second trial of Ebens and
Nitz found both men innocent of all charges. Falling short of five years, the
Vincent Chin case was finally over, and the "justice" as dictated by the ACJ had
not been found. This failure in the courts for Vincent Chin was attributed to
the change of venue to Cincinnati. According to Asian Americans: An Interpretive
History, Cincinnati was "a city whose residents not only had little exposure to
Asian Americans in general but were also unfamiliar with the hostility that
people in Detroit harbored against Japanese cars and Japanese-looking people."
The Vincent Chin case had failed in the courts; Ebens and Nitz were free men.
Was this case just a waste of time then? No. While on the surface this case
seemed to be a failure, it was anything but such a thing. This case was the
first of its kind to mobilize Asian Americans to a unified cause. It showed the
Asian American community how to organize around similar cases. It produced new
organizations that would know how to handle such issues. It was a learning
experience for the Asian American community on how to actively take a stand.
Most importantly, it remains in the consciousness of Asian Americans and
continually educates on what could happen and what should be done.
THUS, EVEN THOUGH THE LEGAL CASE WAS OVER, the fight for justice was not over.
To this day, Vincent Chin is remembered as an atrocity that needs further
prevention. Jim Tso, the national president of the OCA, said: We are not going
to let this case die by any stretch of the imagination, because it will continue
to be a symbol of the injustices that are perpetuated by Asian Americans in this
country. No matter what happens we are going to continue to pursue this case and
make sure in the future there are no other Vincent Chins.
This case served as an inspiration to work harder on future cases. According to
James Shimoura of the ACJ, "My heart sank 30 feet. I fully expected a guilty
verdict. I think every Asian American will shed a tear today because of this
verdict." The shock of this case would act as motivation to prevent further
atrocities.
Years after this incident, Asians still remember the atrocity that occurred
against Vincent. "On the tenth anniversary of Chin's death, some 500 people
attended a commemorative service in Confucius Plaza, Chinatown, New York City,
June 1992." The important part of this case is not that Ebens and Nitz went free
but the journey that was taken and the lessons learned by the Asian American
community.
THE LAST HOPE OF VINDICATION on this case would be the civil action case filed
by Lily Chin. On July 31, 1987, in a civil action suit of wrongful death filed
by Lily Chin against Ebens, Ebens agreed to pay $1.5 million to Chin's estate.
According to her attorney, James A. Brescoll, Mrs. Chin only pursued the case on
principle and was saddened by the fact that Ebens would not spend a single day
in prison for the death of her son. But nevertheless, an important lesson was
learned from the Chin case. Asian Americans are able to get together and
mobilize under a single cause; they are not the "model minority." The Chin case
woke up the Asian community to the fact that they must stand together against
hate crimes.
THE VINCENT CHIN CASE ACTS AS A REMINDER on a continual basis of the need to
mobilize and not be the model minority on a continual basis to the Asian
community. The Asian community has not forgotten the Chin case, evident by the
ample attention still given to the tragedy. For example, Christine Choy and
Renee Tajima decided to make a documentary titled Who Killed Vincent Chin?
(1988) Choy and Tajima interviewed all those involved in the case, including
Ebens, witnesses, and members of the community divided by the incident. Ebens
got to tell his side of the story, and Lily Chin was also prominent in the
documentary. Who Killed Vincent Chin? went on to become nominated for the Oscar
for Best Documentary Feature. It was also shown at the 17th Annual New
Directors-New Films Festival at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and won the
Best Documentary award at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 1988. PBS
also broadcasted the documentary in July of 1989. Who Killed Vincent Chin?
TO FURTHER REMEMBER THE EVENT, in 1998, the play Carry the Tiger to the Mountain
was premiered in Washington, D. C at the OCA Convention. The Convention, at
which Al Gore spoke, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the OCA.
Carry the Tiger to the Mountain also played in New York City at the Pan Asian
Repertory Theater from November through December of 1998.
According to the Contemporary American Theater Festival web site, the play is
"an epic dramatization of the true life story of the victim's mother, Lily Chin,
and her journey from postwar picture bride to civil rights activist in search of
justice for her son." The playwright was Cherylene Lee, who was commissioned by
the Contemporary American Theater Festival to write the play.
On the Vincent Chin incident, Lee said:
I grew up in a family that for generations had worked hard to be a part of the
American mainstream...but in 1983, when I read that a judge in Detroit had
handed down a ridiculously lenient sentence to the murderers of Vincent Chin, a
Chinese-American boy only a few years younger than me, my belief in how I was
viewed by others was terribly shaken.
Even into the late 1990's, the Vincent Chin incident plays a role in reminding
Asian Americans of the atrocity that occurred.
MANY INDIVIDUALS heavily involved in the current Asian American movement
attribute the wave of Asian awareness to the Vincent Chin incident. Mabel Teng,
who abandoned plans to become a doctor and instead became a community activist
and politician, said, "The Vincent Chin case changed my life forever." According
to AsianWeek, "Chin's bludgeoning death at the hands of two laid-off autoworkers
succeeded in mobilizing Asian Americans nationwide" such as Mabel Teng. Helen
Zia, one of the co-founders of the ACJ, described the Chin case as an
"awakening" for the Asian community to racial hostility against Asian Americans.
"Vincent was everyone's son, brother, boyfriend, husband, father.
Asian Americans felt deeply that what happened to Vincent Chin could happen to
anyone that looked 'Japanese. In other words, the failure of Ebens to recognize
Chin as being Chinese and not Japanese shows a lack of respect and a disdain for
Asian Americans in general. "Few Asian Pacific Americans would fail to recognize
the killing of Vincent Chin?/a>" This quote shows how the incident of Chin
reminds the Asian community on a continual basis of the unity needed to combat
hate crimes.
THE DIRECT IMPLICATIONS OF THE VINCENT CHIN CASE can also be seen in other Asian
American hate crime incidents. In 1989, Jim Loo and his five friends were at a
pool hall when two Caucasian men, Robert and Lloyd Piche, started assaulting and
making racial slurs against them. The two men were brothers, who had lost a
third brother in the Vietnam War, and had mistaken Loo as being Vietnamese.
Sucheng Chan, author of Asian Americans: An Interpretive History, wrote:
"the lesson learned in the Vincent Chin case was not lost. When a second Chinese
American, 24 year-old Ming Hai Loo (commonly known as Jim Loo), was killed in
late July 1989 in Raleigh, North Carolina, in a situation reminiscent of the
Vincent Chin murder, Asian Americans immediately mobilized to monitor
developments.
Asian Americans in Raleigh quickly formed the Jim Loo American Justice Coalition
to represent Loo's parents, who spoke very little English, to make sure another
Vincent Chin would not occur. A representative of the coalition said, "We will
do everything we can to avoid repeating the mistake with the Vincent Chin case."
In March 1990, Robert Piche was found guilty of second-degree murder and
sentenced to 37 years in prison. The Chin case had awoken the Asian American
community to what could happen. When Jim Loo was murdered, Asian Americans were
prepared and could better handle the law, and they successfully did so to get
"victory" for Jim Loo.
ANOTHER INCIDENT that drew parallels to the Vincent Chin case was the killing of
Kao Kuan Chung in April of 1997. Kao was a Chinese-American killed in Rohnert
Park by San Francisco police. Due to Kao being Chinese and holding a six-foot
long wooden stick, Police Officer Jack Shields presumed him to be a martial arts
expert and thus shot Kao to death. The Asian community once again went into an
uproar and demanded justice for Kao
Les Hata, a member of the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American
Citizens League, was quoted, "In Vincent Chin, we were looking for justice.
There needs to be justice for the Kao family. The case needs further
exploration." Mabel Teng, who became an activist because of the Chin case, drew
parallels between the Kao incident and the Chin case. She pointed out that in
both instances the victims were Chinese Americans and both were probably killed
due to their race. Rallies demanding justice were also held for Kao just as they
had been for Vincent Chin. A similar strategy of getting public outcry to
pressure the United States Justice Department and/or the United States
Commission on Civil Rights to do a more thorough investigation of the shooting
was also in place. Unfortunately, another similarity to the Chin case was that
"justice" for Kao was never achieved because the Justice Department announced
that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case on civil rights
violations. Nevertheless, the Asian community was still prepared and knew how to
approach the situation due to the awakening of Vincent Chin.
ANOTHER RESULT DERIVED FROM THE VINCENT CHIN INCIDENT was the spawning of
activist groups due to the growing concern of anti-Asian violence in the United
States. This spawning was evident by the ACJ, the Asian-Pacific Caucus of the
Democratic National Committee in Detroit, and the Roundtable of Americans of
Asian Descent, but these groups were mostly formed to deal directly with the
Vincent Chin case. In the spring of 1986, activists from the Organization of
Asian Women, the Organization of Chinese Americans, and the Japanese American
Citizens League invited a diverse Asian American groups to deal with the issue
of anti-Asian violence. As a result, the Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV)
was formed to "voice the Asian American community's concerns about anti-Asian
violence and police brutality in the New York City area." This coalition was not
formed to deal specifically with the Vincent Chin case but had a broader goal of
hate crimes against Asian Americans in general.
The CAAAV credited its formation to the atrocity of the Vincent Chin murder. In
October 1986, in New York City, the CAAAV sponsored a half-day educational forum
on "Violence against Asians in America." The forum gathered more than 250
people, who were all ready to get involved in the Asian American movement. The
CAAAV focused on "advocacy work for victims, community mobilization,
documentation of incidents, public education, lobbying, and coalition building."
Its first case concerned Caucasian police officers, who forcibly entered two
Asian Americans' apartment, assaulted four family members, and arrested them on
false charges.
The CAAAV proved its worth in dealing with this situation, in which all charges
were dropped and the victims settled out of court for $90,000. The Vincent Chin
incident, while not triumphant in the courts, was successful in forming useful
coalitions among the Asian community.
IN CONCLUSION, the Vincent Chin Incident was a milestone for the Asian
community. The model minority was awoken and made to realize the true importance
of mobilization within the community. The travesty of the death of Vincent Chin
in 1982 still acts a reminder to the Asian community of hate crimes and the need
to bind together against them. The aftermath of the incident still influences
today Asian communities as can be seen by the movie, the play, the current
leaders of the Asian community, and the groups that were formed. The model
minority became not so "model" in using the media, organizing rallies and
protests, fundraising, connecting across the nation, appealing to elected
officials, and most importantly, using the law. Due to the Chin case,
consciousness of the need for mobilization was raised among the Asian community
just as the women's rights movement did for women. As McCann points out in
Rights At Work, failure on the surface does not necessarily mean that there is
not success to be found underneath. Due to the women's rights movement, women
came to realize that they had rights and needed to assert them. The Vincent Chin
incident left behind a legacy of mobilization that will act as an organizational
model and motivational story for the Asian American community. While not actual
victories, the women's rights movement and the Chin incident were instrumental
in what will prove to be the beginning of two successful movements.
 Christine Ho - Background Info - On the
Author - She is a 21 years old student at the College of William and Mary in
Virginia. This senior is presently a Government / Pre-Law major whose ambition
is to become a civil rights lawyer
cho@litchfordchristopher.com
Phone: 757-303-3972
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