June 19, 1982: The killing of Vincent Chin.
This one gets me, every time. Every time.
Four days after being held down and beaten in the head with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers in Detroit, Vincent Chin dies.
The Chinese American and his friends were assumed to be Japanese and confronted during his bachelor party by Ronald Ebens and his stepson, Michael Nitz, who, according to witnesses, blamed their unemployment on the rise of Japanese car imports. Rising tensions grew against Japanese Americans as media outlets continued to highlight Japanese car imports pushing out American made and disrupting the industry and jobs.
Ebens and Nitz, convicted of manslaughter in a plea deal, were sentenced to three years probation and a $3,000 fine with NO JAIL TIME.
The judge who presided over the case is quoted as having said, “these aren’t the kind of men you send to jail.”
The verdict—called “a license to kill for $3,000, provided you have a steady job or are a student and the victim is Chinese,” according to Kin Yee, president of the Detroit Chinese Welfare Council—leads to protests and outrage in the Asian American community.
#aapiheritagemonth #AAPI #asianamerican #VincentChin
Further Learning:
https://www.google.com/…/vincent-chin-is-murdered-detroit
https://www.freep.com/…/murder-vincent-chin…/420354001
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