(Picture of Lily Chin holding a framed photograph of her son, Vincent Chin)

“In 1982, at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments arising from massive layoffs in the auto industry, a Chinese American named Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit by two white autoworkers. Chin’s killers, however, got off with a $3,000 fine and 3 years probation, but no jail time. Outraged by this injustice, Asian Americans around the country united for the first time across ethnic and socioeconomic lines to form a pan-Asian identity and civil rights movement.

VINCENT WHO? explores this important legacy through interviews with the key players at the time as well as a whole new generation of activists whose lives were impacted by Vincent Chin. It also looks at the case in relation to the larger narrative of Asian American history, in such events as Chinese Exclusion, Japanese American Internment in WWII, the 1992 L.A. Riots, anti-Asian hate crimes, and post-9/11 racial profiling.

Ultimately, VINCENT WHO? asks how far Asian Americans have come since the case and how far they have yet to go.

For in spite of Vincent Chin’s monumental significance in both the Asian American experience and the civil rights history of America, the vast majority of people today (including most Asian Americans) have little or no knowledge of him.”

Watch the full documentary on youtube: Vincent Who?

(Source: vincentwhofilm.com)

Posted 11 months ago with 7 Notes
#Vincent Chin 
#Lily Chin 
#Asian American Studies 
#know yr history