Downriver Today

The City of Detroit is partnering with a coalition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Vincent Chin murder. The murder is credited with sparking the Asian-American civil rights movement, according to a press release on the city's website. 

The assailants beat Chin with a baseball bat but were freed after his death. 

“Detroit has been a major focus of the long-road struggle for a just America for all,” Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director of Kresge’s Detroit Program, said. “The Kresge Foundation is honored to support this milestone of the Asian American Civil Rights movement in the aftermath of Vincent Chin’s murder. We look forward to public education, essential conversations, and rededication to our collective stand against hate and violence.”

Other civil rights leaders echoed these sentiments. 

“The horrific beating death of Vincent Chin in 1982 on the eve of his bachelor party led to a landmark civil rights movement led by Asian Americans,” Helen Zia said in the release. She is the executor of the Vincent and Lily Chin Estate and a co-founder of American Citizens for Justice (ACJ), which was formed in 1983 to seek justice for Chin. “The present-day wave of anti-Asian hate violence has rekindled awareness of Vincent’s legacy. Our hope is that these events will engage present and future generations in the commitment to social justice and the fight against racism and hate.”

Rochelle Riley, director of arts and culture for the city, asked that Chin's legacy not be forgotten and for that legacy to be connected to racism occurring today. 

“We must never forget Vincent Chin. But, as important, we must not ignore what is happening across America today, the crimes against persons because of their race and culture,” Riley said. “Anything that reminds us of our shared humanity is a welcome exercise right now. This commemoration is not just a remembrance of a moment of injustice, but a pledge to ensure that it never happens again.” 

She continued, “It also is a chance for us to get better acquainted with the creative and cultural brilliance of our Asian American fellow citizens. This entire series of events is going to be uplifting and groundbreaking.”

Other leaders from ACJ took the opportunity to sum up the values of their movement.

“Our movement is committed to equal justice for all and a stand against racism and discrimination of any kind,” civil rights attorney Jim Shimoura, chairman of the Vincent Chin 40th Remembrance and Rededication planning committee and co-founder of ACJ, said. 

ACJ leaders continued to disclose the purpose of the events.

“These events are about remembrance of a hate crime that defined our civil rights movement,” Roland Hwang, president and co-founder of ACJ and a member of the planning committee, said in the release.