Watch It: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang on Role of the Media in Vincent Chin Case State Bar of Michigan Legal Milestone

Vincent Chin And Looking Forward

Have things gotten better since Vincent Chin's brutal death 30 years ago? I'd like to say yes, but honestly - I just don't know. You can go into small towns across the U.S., a "neighborhood bar", or just be in your car when a cop decides to switch lanes for no apparent reason and roll up on you - all the time feeling on edge - and that you're being targeted in some way or another because of your race and ethnicity.

And not always safe.

Sure, you can make a case that the Phanthavong/Senser trial, or the case of Koua Fong Lee, the students at South Philly High - all of these and more (because these are just a few of the injustices we've seen) - that they are worlds apart from Vincent Chin.

But only if you really want too.

Because you can also make the case that they are leaves from the same tree - if not from the same branch - and that time alone doesn't make things better and that in all reality, our lives, as seen by some, aren't worth any more than what Vincent Chin's was to Ebans and Nitz, his attackers thirty years ago.

What killed Chin, what drove those two men to murder him was the simple fact that we as Asian Americans were not seen as a group of people that belonged, even in our own individual greatness - and that hasn't changed as much as some people want to believe - it hasn't changed as much as I want to believe.

From the workplace and government, to television and film, to even the most simplistic things like ordering food and not getting a receipt that targets your race - people still don't see us as individuals always worthy of getting the same respect and opportunities as everyone else - and that's what needs to change first.

That's what has to change in order to really say that things have gotten better.

Links

APA's For Progress

BCB

Bao Phi

Rafu Shimpo

Detroit News

Vincent Chin. (Fort Minor Remix By Model Minority)

June 23, 2011 - the 29th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death.

A Detroit auto industry worker, Vincent Chin was beaten to death on the night before his wedding by two men. As they shouted racial slurs at him, blaming the Japanese (Chin was Chinese) for stealing American automotive jobs.

The men were later sentenced by a judge to 3 years' probation and a fine of $3000.

http://www.facebook.com/themodelminority
Video clips - "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña.
Instrumental - "Kenji", by Fort Minor.

Vincent Who? Special Edition DVD

I got sent word in from the Vincent Who? team about a new DVD Special Edition that marks the 28th anniversary of the hate crime against Vincent Chin.

Here's what director Tony Lam had to say about it:

This week marks the 28th anniversary of the hate crime murder of Vincent Chin, a case that ignited the first Asian American civil rights movement and gave rise to a new "Asian American" identity and community.

In commemoration, we are releasing a Special Edition DVD of VINCENT WHO?, the 2009 documentary about Vincent Chin and the Asian American experience in political activism (see our new widescreen trailer). We are also launching a new website dedicated to Vincent Chin and his legacy to serve as an educational resource.

In doing so, we hope to contribute toward the day when the momentous, but mostly unknown story of Vincent Chin becomes a familiar one, not only among Asian Americans, but all Americans.

The special edition DVD has both the 4:3 and 16:9 widescreen formats and has some great new discounts for educational showings and use.

Pick it up and check out more at the site.

Obama: Using China to gain votes with the same old xenophobia

Updated February 4th 7:30 PM

You know what I get sick of? I get sick of people who use fear tactics that play on ignorance and xenophobia - and I get even more sick of it when it's turned around to Asian Americans. It's like the auto industry and Vincent Chin - Chin became a local scapegoat who got murdered for an American problem because people took it upon themselves to look at him as the enemy - that slanty eyed enemy who took away American white jobs.

And as far as we've come, it's still happening.

Even candidates like Obama who talk of change and a new America still can't help but lean on this old and tired stereotype. Check out a snippet a friend sent me which apparently is getting even more air play because of Super Tuesday (being cut for different areas):

I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.

BO speaking to town hall sized crowd
BO Synch: Ordinary people all across the country are struggling from paycheck to paycheck.

If the plant moves to China, and you’ve been working there for 20, 30 years and suddenly you have the rug pulled out from under ya…

And you don’t have healthcare, and you don’t have a pension, you’re on your own.

We gotta stop giving tax breaks to companies that are moving overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in IA

In the United States of America.

Because we as Americans have no idea how to save like the rest of the world *gasp* it's China's fault? Because a U.S. company couldn't provide their workers with health care because of our American system it's China's fault? Because American companies and lobby groups have allowed our government to create tax breaks for large corporations investing all over the world that's China's fault too?

What about the Bahamas? Shouldn't they get some blame as well?

But then again what am I thinking - easier to blame the Asian people right?

Does Obama even know that less than 1% of jobs are actually outsourced - in total? Does Obama know that China really doesn't have anything to do with our U.S. health care system?

See - this is different from talking about fair trade and tariffs - this to me is outright fear mongering at the expense of Asian Americans - because as many know in the Asian American community, the line between China and Chinese Americans - and then Asian Americans in general isn't that hard for some people to connect - no matter how wrong that connection is.

Do I have to bring up the manufacturing of toys made in China, or some food that came out from a plant or two? Do I have to remind people that Asian and Asian Americans are sometimes still seen as a collective who all look alike?

Do I have to say Vincent Chin again?

Even more befuddling at times is how some Asian American media and bloggers come out in support of Obama, but yet they make no mention of this. I understand about supporting your candidate - but nothing? Hasn't this ad been up since Iowa?

What? Because Obama has some people of Asian decent in his family he can do no wrong? We're not supposed to call him on his tactics - the same ones that have been used throughout history to keep down Asian Americans?

I'm not saying you can't be for Obama - you can and maybe you should (just like Clinton or McCain) - I'm not saying Obama isn't a good candidate either. But what I am saying is that Obama, like every other candidate, still needs to be held accountable for issues like this where he is clearly in the wrong.