Chin, Vincent (1955–1982)

Crime and Punishment

Vincent Chin, the adopted son and only child of Chinese immigrants, was raised in Detroit, Michigan. In 1982, Chin was working as an industrial draftsman and preparing for his wedding. On June 19, 1982, Chin and a small group of friends went to a strip club called “Fancy Pants,” in the Highland Park area of Detroit, to celebrate Chin's upcoming wedding, just days away. There, they encountered Chrysler plant supervisor Ronald Ebens and his stepson, Michael Nitz, who had been laid off from work. At one point, a verbal altercation began over the attention of one of the dancers, at which point Ebens yelled at Chin, “It's because of you little ‘motherf∗∗∗ers’ that we're out of work.” Witnesses also claim that Chin had been called a “nip” and a “chink.” Chin hit Ebens, and a fight between the men in the parking lot was broken up by the club's security guards.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Ebens and Nitz were driving in the area and spotted Chin and his friends eating at a nearby McDonald's. Despite Chin's attempt to escape, Nitz was able to grab Chin and hold him, while Ebens repeatedly hit Chin's body, including the top of his head, with a baseball bat. Chin was taken to the hospital, where he spent 4 days in a coma before dying on June 23, 1982.

Ebens and Nitz were charged with second-degree murder but were able to negotiate a plea bargain by confessing to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Ebens and Nitz were given no jail time for the hate crime, instead serving 3 years' probation and being ordered to pay $3,000 each, plus $780 in court costs. Chin's mother, Lily Chin, was not asked to testify at the trial, nor were any witnesses to the crime. The judge who presided over the case, Wayne County circuit judge Charles Kaufman, a World War II veteran who had served time as a prisoner of war in Japanese prison camps, defended his sentencing by saying, “These 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.”

Community Outrage

The reaction to Judge Kaufman's sentencing was a tremendous outcry within the Asian community, in Detroit and elsewhere. The sentence was largely seen as a slap on the wrist and for many Asians served as a testament to public disregard toward racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans. Soon after the sentence, a coalition of various Asian organizations and civil rights groups was formed, calling themselves American Citizens for Justice (ACJ). Working closely with Vincent's mother, Lily Chin, the group began the process of appealing the verdict, touring the country to raise money and awareness about the Chin case.

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