![]() The fight that would lead to the killing of Vincent Chin started at The Fancy Pants Club on June 19, 1982, when Chin took umbrage at a remark that Ebens made to a stripper who had just finished dancing at Chin's table (Chin was having a bachelor party, as he was to be married eight days later). He was engaged, and the wedding date set for June 28, 1982. At the time of his death, he was employed as an industrial draftsman at Efficient Engineering, an automotive supplier, and working weekends as a waiter at the former Golden Star restaurant in Ferndale, Michigan. Vincent Chin graduated from Oak Park High School in 1973, going on to study at Control Data Institute, and Lawrence Tech. In 1971, after the elderly Hing was mugged, the family moved to Oak Park, Michigan. Throughout most of the 1960s, Chin grew up in Highland Park. After Lily suffered a miscarriage in 1949 and was unable to have children, the couple adopted Vincent from a Chinese orphanage in 1961. His father earned the right to bring a Chinese bride into the United States through his service in World War II. He was the only child of Bing Hing "David" Chin (a.k.a. Early life Ĭhin was born on May 18, 1955, in Guangdong province, Mainland China. As a result, the case has since been viewed as a critical turning point for Asian American civil rights engagement and a rallying cry for stronger federal hate crime legislation. The president of the Detroit Chinese Welfare Council said it amounted to a "$3,000 license to kill" Chinese Americans. ![]() The lenient sentence led to an uproar from Asian Americans. Judge Kaufman further states that Ebens and Nitz "weren't the kind of men you send to jail You don't make the punishment fit the crime you make the punishment fit the criminal." Judge Kaufman's rationale for his leniency was that it was Chin who initiated the physical altercation, Ebens and Nitz had no prior convictions, Chin survived for four days on life support, and the prosecutor failed to argue for a more severe sentence. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Charles Kaufman sentenced Ebens and Nitz to only three years' probation and a $3,000 fine plus costs but with no jail time. While Ebens and Nitz never denied the brawl, they claimed the fight was not racially motivated and said they did not use racial epithets. Resentful workers laid the blame for recent layoffs on Japanese competition.Įbens and Nitz pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1983, in a plea bargain from an initial charge of second-degree murder. domestic market that hastened the decline of Detroit's "Big Three". At the time, Metro Detroit was a powder keg of racial animosity toward Asian Americans, specifically as the penetration of Japanese automotive imports in the U.S. Chin was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where he died of his injuries four days later. There, Nitz held Chin down while Ebens repeatedly bashed him in the head with a baseball bat. Ebens and Nitz eventually found Chin in front of a Highland Park McDonald’s. ![]() Ebens and Nitz blamed Chin for the success of Japan's automotive industry in the country.Īlthough accounts vary, the men got into a physical altercation and were removed from the club as a result. Against the backdrop of high anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States at the time – known as " Japan bashing" – they had assumed that Chin was Japanese and witnesses described them using anti-Asian racial slurs as they attacked him, ultimately beating him to death. Ebens and Nitz assailed Chin following a brawl that took place at a strip club in Highland Park, Michigan, where Chin had been celebrating his bachelor party with friends in advance of his upcoming wedding. ![]() Vincent Jen Chin ( Chinese: 陳果仁 – June 23, 1982) was an American draftsman of Chinese descent who was killed in a racially motivated assault by two white men, Chrysler plant supervisor Ronald Ebens and his stepson, laid-off autoworker Michael Nitz. Violation of civil rights (2 counts each)Įbens ordered to pay $1.5 million to Chin's family, Nitz ordered to pay $50,000 Second-degree murder (dropped after plea deal) Nitz not guilty of violation of civil rightsīoth perpetrators sentenced to three years of probation and $3,780 fine Resentment over unemployment in auto industry, blamed on Japanese imports, Anti-Asian racismĮbens guilty of one count of violation of civil rights, but verdict overturned
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