Vincent WHO?

On Friday 11/21, I attended the 2 hour event hosted by the A/P/A Institute. At this event, Curtis Chin screened his documentary, "Vincent Who?", which was about Vincent Chin, a Chinese boy who was murdered in Detroit in the 1980's. I have to admit (and I'm embarrassed to do so) that before this, I knew very little about this incident. I had heard of his name before, and knew that some injustice had been served, but this wasn't enough for me to take personal action to do research and find out what had really happened. It turns out that Vincent was the victim of a horrible hate crime committed by a white man and his stepson. Ronald Ebens worked in the auto industry, and had been laid off due to the rising Japanese auto market. He was at a bar with his stepson Michael Nitz when they saw Vincent Chin, and assuming that he was Japanese, beat him to death with a baseball bat. The worst part of it was the incredibly lenient verdict- they served absolutely NO jail time. They were given three years probation and were fined $3,000 plus court costs.

Although the documentary was educative and is a great way to spread information on this issue, what I enjoyed the most about the film was its message. It focused on how, for the first time ever, this hate crime influenced the entire Asian American population to rally together in protest. The people interviewed in the documentary stated that most of the social justice issues that are brought up in school regarding history and racism are focused on Black/White relations, when there are so many other forms of discrimination and social injustices that we aren't taught about. As the model minority, Asians are stereotypically quiet and conservative; they keep to themselves and as a race, they try to blend in, assimilate, and appease everyone. The message of this film was for Asian Americans to take a stand, speak out, and make a difference.

After the film was over, Curtis had a chance to talk to us about the project and explain some of his motivations and thoughts. He said that as he toured the country, a question he often asked was, "Who here considers themselves a political activist?". Usually, only a few people would raise their hands. Then he would ask if there were any people who ever recycled, or donated money, and other small things that people normally wouldn't consider political activism. He enforced that all of these little things were acts of social justice and political activism; ways to make our world a better place. I think it's a really great message, and it ties in well with what we're learning about social justice education as well. Sometimes I think it can be overwhelming to learn about everything that's wrong in the world, and it's easy to start feeling like change is impossible. It's a great message to send to students that every little action counts.