Vincent Chin murder
The murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 is a significant event in American history that highlights the intersection of racial tensions and violence. Chin, a Chinese American, was celebrating his upcoming wedding in Detroit when he became the target of racial slurs from two white autoworkers who mistakenly believed he was Japanese, blaming him for job losses in the U.S. automobile industry attributed to competition from Japan. Following a confrontation, Chin was brutally attacked with a baseball bat, leading to his death four days later.
The initial legal response was met with widespread outrage, as the assailants received light sentences that many viewed as unjust. This incident galvanized the Asian American community, leading to the formation of advocacy groups demanding accountability and justice. The ensuing legal battles over civil rights violations and the eventual acquittals of the attackers underscored systemic issues regarding race and justice in America. The murder of Vincent Chin not only became a rallying point for Asian Americans but also played a crucial role in fostering a broader Asian American civil rights movement, uniting individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the pursuit of justice and equality.
Vincent Chin murder
In 1982, the US automobile industry was in a slump. Many people believed that competition from Japanese automakers had caused the US automakers’ problems, and resentment against the Japanese was strong. On June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin, a twenty-seven-year-old Chinese American, went with three friends to a bar in Detroit, Michigan, to celebrate his forthcoming wedding. In the bar, two white autoworkers, Ronald Ebens, an automobile plant foreman, and his stepson, Michael Nitz, a laid-off autoworker and part-time student, who assumed that Chin was Japanese, taunted him. They called him “Jap” and used abusive language in blaming him for the loss of jobs at US automobile-manufacturing plants. After a fistfight broke out, the manager evicted both groups of combatants.
Outside, Ebens and Nitz got a baseball bat from the trunk of their car and found Chin and his friends waiting for a friend to pick them up. Chin and his friends ran, but Ebens and Nitz hunted and trapped Chin in front of a McDonald’s restaurant. There Nitz held Chin while Ebens bludgeoned him with the baseball bat. Four days later, Chin died of head injuries.
The two men were initially charged with second-degree murder but were later allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter. On May 16, 1983, Wayne County circuit court judge Charles S. Kaufman, after hearing only the arguments from the defense attorneys and not those of the prosecuting attorneys, sentenced the two men to three years’ probation and fined each $3,000 plus $780 in fees. They were allowed to pay the debt in monthly payments of $125.
People across the country responded with disbelief and outrage. Asian Americans in Detroit formed the American Citizens for Justice and, along with several California congressmen, demanded a review of the light sentences. They also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether Ebens and Nitz had violated Chin’s civil rights. The Justice Department had the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) look into the matter. The FBI’s investigation resulted in the convening of a federal grand jury in September, 1983, which indicted Ebens and Nitz on two counts, one of violating Chin’s civil rights, the other of conspiracy. The following year, the Wayne County US district court convicted Ebens of violating Chin’s civil rights but acquitted him of the conspiracy charge. Ebens was sentenced to twenty-five years in jail and told to undergo treatment for alcoholism. He was freed after posting a $20,000 bond. Nitz was acquitted of both charges.
Ebens’s attorney appealed the conviction, and the federal appeals court overturned the conviction in September, 1986, on the grounds that the attorneys for the American Citizens for Justice had improperly coached a prosecution witness. The Justice Department ordered a retrial, which took place in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ebens was acquitted of both charges. Neither Ebens nor Nitz spent a day in jail for murdering Chin.
The Chin incident—in which resentment against one Asian nation translated into violence against an Asian American whose ancestors were from another nation—convinced members of the Asian American community that to receive justice, all Americans of Asian descent, although from very distinct traditions, would have to unite and organize. In this way, the Chin murder led to the founding of the Asian American movement.
Bibliography
Chi, Sang, and Emily Moberg Robinson, eds. Voices of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Experience. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2012. Print.
Darden, Joe T., and Richard W. Thomas. Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2013. Print.
Zhao, Xiaojian, and Edward J. W. Park, eds. Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print.