It’s Impossible to See Racism Toward Asian Americans Right Now and Not Think of Vincent Chin
In the face of coronavirus, people are resorting to the same bigoted attacks that led to Chin’s murder in Detroit 38 years ago
In 1982, Japan’s growing success in the automobile industry left U.S. companies with declining opportunities. The United States was struggling, still traumatized from the worst recession since the Great Depression. Some people sought a scapegoat.
That summer, Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old Chinese American draftsman, was murdered in Detroit. His killers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, stalked him following a spat in a night club, where Chin had been celebrating his bachelor party with some friends. Ebens allegedly incited the incident by shouting at Chin, “It’s because of you little motherfuckers that we’re out of work!” About 20 minutes later, the two men found Chin at a McDonald’s. Nitz, who had recently been laid off, held Chin while Ebens, a Chrysler plant supervisor, bludgeoned him with a baseball bat. Chin, whose skull was cracked open from the trauma, passed away after four days in a coma. The two men either didn’t know or didn’t care that Chin wasn’t Japanese—he was of Chinese descent.
