Courtesy of AAJC:
35 years ago this week, a Chinese American man named Vincent Chin was beaten with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers in Detroit. According to witnesses, the men yelled, “It’s because of you little m — f — s that we’re out of work,” suggesting they blamed him — and targeted him for violence — because the auto industry in the U.S. was declining as Japan’s economy grew. Four days after the beating, Chin died. When his attackers were fined just $3,000 and served no jail time, organizations and individuals of different Asian ethnic backgrounds came together in the call for justice for Vincent Chin. The incident is often considered the beginning of a multi-ethnic Asian American civil rights movement.
Today, as we see violence targeting immigrants, Muslims, and people of color across the country, we must come together with an even broader coalition to combat hate.
