ASIAN HATE 1983: THE BRUTAL MURDER OF VINCENT CHIN
On June 19, 1982, a Chinese American man named Vincent Chin went with friends to a strip club in Detroit to celebrate his upcoming wedding. That night, two white men who apparently thought Chin was Japanese beat him to death. At the killers trial, the men each received a 3, 000 fine and zero prison time. The light sentencing sparked national outrage and fueled a movement for panAsian American rights. Chin was born in Chinas Guangdong province and grew up in Detroit with his adoptive Chinese American parents. By the summer of 1982, he was 27 years old and working in computer graphics, and his hometownonce known as an automotive manufacturing capitalwas in decline. Many U. S. autoworkers blamed this decline on Japanese car manufacturers. On the night Chin went out with his friends, 43yearold Chrysler foreman Ronald Ebens and his 22yearold stepson Michael Nitz, whod lost his job at Chrysler, were also at the club. According to testimony, a dispute started between the groups of men ove
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