Killing of Vincent Chin
Vincent Chin was born in 1955 in Guangdong, China and grew up in Detroit, Michigan with his adoptive Chinese American parents. Prior to the killing, Chin worked as an industrial draftsman at a local engineering company around Oakland County, Michigan as well as a restaurant waiter. He was engaged, and the wedding was planned to happen less than two weeks after the killing incident.
From the 1970s to late 1980s, the US’s “Big Three” companies in the car manufacturing industry were struggling to keep afloat due to competition from Japan’s success in the automotive industry. This led to widespread layoffs of workers made by GM, Ford, and Chrysler, fueling racial resentment towards Asian Americans.
On June 19, 1982, Chin was at The Fancy Pants Club to attend his own bachelor’s party, when then 42-year-old Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz comment on Chin and his friends, “Don’t pay any attention to those little fuckers, they wouldn’t know a good dancer if they’d seen one.” A witness claimed that Ebens also yelled “It’s because of you little motherfuckers that we’re out of work,” implying that he’s Japanese, despite being from China. Ebens claimed that out of retaliation, Chin threw a punch at Ebens, which led to a brawl at the club. The fight was dispersed, until they went outside, where the fight continued. Ebens brought out a baseball to pursue Chin. Chin was found in a parking lot at a McDonalds with a cracked head. He was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital and in a four-day comA.
Originally charged with second-degree murder, Ebens and Nitz made a plea bargain to lower the charges to manslaughter. In March of 1983, both were found guilty of manslaughter, with total fines up to $3,780 and three years of probation.
The murder did not reach national headlines until the judgement was made, which has since fueled activism and protests in the Asian American community. This also led to a 1984 Federal civil rights case, claiming that it was not just that Chin was injured by someone but that "a substantial motivating factor for the defendants' actions was Mr. Chin's race, color, or national origin.” Ebens was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Nitz was acquitted. The case was appealed and overturned in 1986. In 1987, the case was retried but in Ohio, due to the increased tensions and coverage in Detroit, where the judge cleared Ebens of all charges. A civil suit was filed and settled in court in 1987, ordering Ebens to pay up to $1.5 million in losses. When the suit was renewed in 1997, the adjusted total was $4.6 million.
The murder of Vincent Chin has been considered a hate crime against Asian Americans, despite hate crimes laws not being passed at the time. However, many cite Vincent Chin’s death as an indicator that Asian Americans continue to be “perpetual foreigners”, as opposed to “real” Americans.
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