A Young Chinese American Man Was Brutally Murdered

The killers thought he was Japanese

This happened in the United States of America

Hate crimes against Asian Americans are definitely on the rise. Racist rants toward them started to be common after Donald Trump continuously called the coronavirus the Chinese virus and other disparaging names. He blamed China and Asians for the pandemic so his supporters did the same.

Now there is an escalation of racism and hate crimes against people of Asian backgrounds.

“Karen” became a household word as white, supposedly privileged women called out people of Asian heritage for their race. They started to be called “Karen” and gave a nice name a bad connotation.

Racism against Asian Americans is nothing new. It has gone on for years with some people saying they have experienced racism on a weekly basis.

One of the most horrific hate crimes against an Asian American was the case of Vincent Chin. It happened in Detroit in 1982.

Japanese automobiles started to gain more popularity with Americans during the 1980s. This caused some problems for the American auto companies with the increased competition. There was hostility against Japanese people because of it, especially in places where American cars were made. Asian American people started to see more racism and hatred toward them.

The Japanese cars were smaller and more fuel efficient. That caused the domestic automobile market in the United States to see their business decline dramatically. Some autoworkers in Detroit were seeing layoffs and job losses because of the increased competition from the Japanese auto companies as more Americans were buying Japanese cars. Autoworkers, former autoworkers, and their families were angry. They blamed Japan and the Japanese people for their problems.

The general public did not and generally does not distinguish differences between the ethnicities of Asian Americans. The hatred of the autoworkers was directed at all Asians because they associated them with Japan. That is also happening with the current racial attacks against Asian Americans because of COVID.

Vincent Chin was a young Chinese American man who was engaged to be married. He was having a bachelor party with some of his friends in a neighborhood around Detroit. He was employed as a draftsman at an automotive supplier company. He was twenty-seven years old and was planning to be married the next week.

Chin and some friends had gone to a club to celebrate. Two white men who were at the club that night were Ronald Ebens, a foreman at Chrysler, and his stepson Michael Nitz, who had lost his job at the same company. They had an altercation with Chin’s group, whom they blamed for the loss of jobs. Both groups were thrown out of the club so they left.

Chin’s group had gone to a McDonald’s. Ebens and Nitz drove around looking for them and eventually found them. Ebens had a baseball bat in his truck, and he beat Chin savagely with the bat. Chin’s head was cracked open, and he was taken to the hospital. He died four hours later. Witnesses to the beating included an off-duty police officer.

It was clear that Ebens had killed Chin. However, Ebens and Nitz did not receive any prison time and were given only a $3,000 fine. The murder was not well publicized nationally at the time, but Asian Americans were outraged after the verdict. The men admitted that they were guilty, but they went free. They later were ordered to pay money to the Chin family in a civil suit, but there was no justice for this blatantly racist and brutal murder.

Now Asian Americans are again facing extreme hatred and racism. Innocent Americans are being harassed, beaten, and killed. It is outrageous that such injustice is being committed against Asian Americans. Life should not include racism.

[Source: Wikipedia]