Curtis Chin’s family friend, Vincent Chin, was murdered in a high profile 1985 hate crime. Two men beat the 26-year-old Chinese-American to death because they were angry about the rise of Japanese auto sales in the United States. The murderers were never sentenced to any jail time, and instead were each issued $3,000 fees and three years of probation.
Curtis Chin said this murder sparked the Asian-American civil rights movement.
Chin now travels the country promoting Asian-American civil rights, and showing a documentary he created about the murder, titled “Vincent Who?”
Chin will be visiting Western at 6 p.m. May 3 in Viking Union 512 to speak about contemporary Chinese-American social rights issues.
Tell me a little bit about “Vincent Who?”
The documentary uses the famous hate crime murder of Vincent Chin as a starting point to examine the current status of Asian-American empowerment. People talk about the Vincent Chin case as a turning point in Asian-American empowerment. But in reality, how far have we come since that time period? It’s been 25 years, have we managed to move the ball forward? Have we built institutions to fight for our civil rights? There’s no right answer.
What do you hope students get out of hearing you speak and watching the film?
I want students to feel empowered and to feel like they have a role to play. Not everyone is going to be a full-time professional activist, but everyone can contribute in their own small way. Whether you become an accountant, a lawyer, a doctor or an engineer, there’s some skill that you can provide that can help your community. And that’s the message I want to spread to people: anyone can contribute.
You’ve been quoted in the past as saying every act, whether intentional or not, is political, and that people should be more proactive. Is that what you’re talking about?
Yeah. I think that politics has a negative connotation in this country, and I think that really hurts everybody. When people aren’t engaged, there are certain other people – the ones who are engaged – who are going to take advantage of that. The American public needs to be engaged because there are things happening that affect us. Turning our backs is not the answer. In fact, if we’re pissed off about the situation and we feel overwhelmed, then we need to spend more time being engaged because the problems are not going to go away.
What advancements have been made in the Asian-American community since the murder?
With all civil rights it’s always two steps forward and one step back. It would be great if the Asian-American community had a bigger seat at the table. Particularly with legislation that affects our community. But I know there are a lot of people working hard on this issue and trying to move the ball forward. I don’t know when that breakthrough is going to come, I just know that we have to keep working toward it.
What legislation are you referring to?
The rising cost of education is a big concern for our community. As you know, Asian-Americans put a high emphasis on college education, and the rising costs disproportionately affects our community. Education has been one avenue that Asian-Americans have used to advance up the economic ladder, but as college becomes more and more difficult for people to pay for, it affects our community.
Where should students turn if they want to get involved in the Asian-American civil rights movement?
First, (students should) look around themselves, see what issues matter to them and their friends, and see if there’s a way that they can work together to create change. You might be surprised by the passion and resources you see in your own group of friends.
The other thing I’m talking about is the UCLA YouTube video. (Chin is referring to a racist rant recorded by a UCLA student and released on YouTube in March.) It was really amazing to see the response to that video. If you asked most of those students if they were doing something political, they probably would’ve said, ‘No, I’m just forwarding a stupid video.’ But the reality is that, by forwarding that video, they were sending a political message. They were engaging in a process, and saying, ‘This is racist, this cannot happen again.’
The question is, can Asian-Americans replicate that if it came to something else? Like passing legislation, or electing a particular candidate, or God forbid if there were another hate crime. Could Asian-Americans globalize as quickly, with as much passion as the video sparked?
