The brutal murder of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of activism by Asian Americans across the country

Two white auto workers bludgeoned Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old Chinese American, to death with a baseball bat at his bachelor party in Detroit in 1982, but cries for justice from his loved ones fell on deaf ears.

Twelve days passed before the media reported Chin’s murder, committed by men who blamed Asian automakers for the fall of the city’s auto industry. None of them recognized at the time the racist nature of his murder. The defendants pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and were sentenced to three years of probation. Judge Charles Kaufman said that “these are not the kind of men we send to prison.”

This injustice has pushed Asian Americans to unite across ethnic and cultural divides. Hundreds of people demonstrated against the outcome of the trial in downtown Detroit. Chin’s mother traveled the country to tell her story and push for federal prosecutions for civil rights violations.

More than four decades later, activists continue to fight to ensure Chin is not forgotten, saying her story has inspired advocacy efforts across the country. Law students are reenacting her trial, Hollywood has adapted her story into a film, and Asian Americans are remembering the impact her murder had on their fight for racial justice and equality.

“For an entire generation of Asian American activists, the Vincent Chin affair was the case that got them involved,” says writer and filmmaker Curtis Chin. “That’s what brought them to the table.”

A chorus of Asian American voices

After the judge spared Vincent Chin’s killers, Curtis Chin, then 14, grabbed his parents’ typewriter and wrote outraged letters to newspaper editors. He had found his calling.

Instead of taking over his family’s Chinese restaurant, Curtis Chin — who is not related to the man killed on June 23, 1982 — spent the next 30 years elevating the voices of Asian Americans and to tell the story of Vincent Chin and the racism of the Detroit of the 1980s.

For Helen Zia, an Asian American activist who moved to Detroit in the 1970s, Chin’s case has highlighted the gross injustices her community faces.

In the absence of local organizations advocating for Asian American civil rights, Zia co-founded American Citizens for Justice, which helped secure federal trials for Chin’s killers. One was acquitted of civil rights violations, and the other was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal.

On June 20, the FBI released a 602-page file on Chin’s death, revealing never-before-seen witness interviews with descriptions of her final moments and anti-Asian slurs used by her attackers, among other details. Activists told the Detroit Free Press, which first reported on the FBI documents, that they had not been briefed on the file and that the agency had not provided a reason for its release.

Last year, Zia launched the Vincent Chin Institute, an advocacy organization aimed at combating hatred against Asian Americans.

Chin’s case had an impact beyond advocacy. Harvard Law School students reenacted the trials of his attackers to highlight the flaws in the justice system. And his murder inspired documentaries, a podcast and a film, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”

Vincent Chin was the victim of brutal racial violence, but from this tragedy emerged “a chorus of Asian American voices,” says Curtis Chin.

Considerable work ahead

The autoworkers who attacked Chin blamed foreign automakers for the difficulties facing the U.S. auto industry.

This fear of a foreign economic threat parallels “anti-China hysteria and scapegoating,” says Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, pointing to attacks on Asians by people accusing them of culpability in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What’s different for our community today is that we speak openly. We do it loud and clear,” says Choi.

Founded in 2020, Stop AAPI Hate advocates for policy change and collects comprehensive data on hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The group has documented thousands of cases across the country, including verbal and physical violence, as well as discrimination in business and education.

“Nearly 50% of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reported experiencing some form of racial hatred in the past year,” Choi says.

Advocates say there is still considerable work to be done.

No comprehensive history of Asian Americans is included in core K-12 curricula. When asked to name a prominent Asian American in a recent survey, most Americans said “I can’t think of one” or Jackie Chan, who is not American.

“For most Americans, we don’t even exist,” Zia says, citing lack of visibility as one of the main drivers of perpetuating Asian American stereotypes.

John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, highlights the harmful effects of stereotypes.

“In terms of job opportunities, we’re pigeonholed as permanent foreigners,” Yang says. “Asian Americans aren’t promoted at the same rate. We’re not in leadership positions. We’re not in leadership positions in the same way that other Americans are.”

Discrimination extends to housing, too. The Urban Institute, a think tank that conducts economic and policy research, reports that Asian American buyers are offered 18.8 percent fewer homes than white buyers. Yet the stereotype of Asian Americans as the model minority leads some fair housing advocates to exclude Asian Americans from their efforts.

“Everyone questions whether an Asian American is really American, and that’s why they’re not offered the same housing,” Yang said. “They don’t have the same opportunities.”

Standing on the shoulders of giants

On Sunday, dozens of residents stood with their heads bowed under the gate of Boston’s Chinatown to pay tribute to Chin. Wearing T-shirts that read “STOP ASIAN HATE,” they arranged heart-shaped candles and displayed a portrait of Chin with his name written in Chinese and “May 18, 1955 – June 23, 1982.”

Wilson Lee, co-founder of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Boston Lodge and the Chinese American Heritage Foundation, said he and his wife have held a vigil in memory of Chin every June 23 for the past six years. Even as media attention has faded, their dedication to Chin’s memory has not wavered.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” Lee says. “Because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s a popular thing to do.”

A group of local dignitaries joined the commemoration, as did 16 elementary and middle school students of Asian descent whom Lee described as “stakeholders.” They held orange lilies and yellow flowers pressed to their chests.

“We need to make sure that future generations, especially our young people, know the experience that he had,” Lee said. “They stand on the shoulders of giants, and Vincent Chin was a giant.”

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