Thursday, June 23, 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin.
Vincent Chin, born May 18, 1955, in Mainland China, was 27 years old.
This happened in Highland Park and Detroit, Michigan.
Vincent Chin was a Chinese American and an auto engineer who was having a night out with friends, on Saturday, June 19, 1982, at a club for what was his bachelor party. Two people, who are white, were also employed in the automobile industry. Their names: Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. There were layoffs going on the industry at the time. Ebens (b. October 30, 1939) and Nitz (b. 1958 or 1959), who had recently been laid off, were upset. So, they targeted Chin.
Outside the club, and leading the charge, Ebens, a Chrysler plant supervisor and stepfather to Nitz, went after Chin. The two chased after and found Chin. Nitz held down Chin. Ebens, with a baseball bat, repeatedly struck Chin and beat him to near-death. Chin was taken to Henry Ford Hospital, in Detroit, and succumbed to his injuries four days later.
Vincent Chin’s mother, Lily (according to Find a Grave, 1920–June 9, 2002; his father, Bing, died in 1981), was devastated and outraged. (Recommended reading with a link, for her, appears below.) It was further upsetting that this crime against her son—and, yes, it was indeed a hate crime—went unpunished. It was, after all, murder. And this did not initially receive much national attention, in 1982, but gained ground a year later (with Lily as a guest on Donahue).
I have plenty of material covering this. But, I want to mention the following: While this was in Detroit, Michigan, my area of residence in childhood and even now, I was at the age of 10—just two months shy of turning 11—years old. I was stunned by this, when news of it was reported in 1982, and I was further saddened that Vincent Chin (who would now be 67) did not survive. (I wanted him to.) This was a life denied. I am disgusted his killers were not punished in the justice system of the United States. (The closest were with civil judgments for damages. Neither Ebens or Nitz did time.)
My area PBS stations—WTVS (Ch. 56—Detroit, Michigan) and WGTE (Ch. 30—Toledo, Ohio)—will be broadcasting on Monday, June 20, 2022 Who Killed Vincent Chin? Nominated for the 1988 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, it was directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña. (As of this blog’s publication date, I have not seen it. I will and have it set for DVR. According to Wikipedia, “In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.”) I do not know whether there are other PBS-affiliated stations which will broadcast Who Killed Vincent Chin? According to onscreen programing guide, through my provider, it is part of the POV series. (Frankly, I don’t regularly tune in PBS. Its programming schedules tend to vary one area to the next—this includes Detroit and Toledo—so I don’t generally keep track of PBS.) But, perhaps this documentary will be on in different Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs. Nationwide, there are 210. This means one’s applicable market, like New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; et al).
I already mentioned having different materials related to the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin. The following are with online sources like The History Channel’s website as well as some published-to-YouTube videos which include—with the first two—brief clips from Who Killed Vincent Chin?
• Vincent Chin is murdered (History)
• Forty-year anniversary of Vincent Chin killing marked amid surge of anti-Asian violence (World Socialist Web Site)
• Killing of Vincent Chin (Wikipedia)
• Remembering Vincent Chin: “The Legacy of Lily Chin” (Medium)
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