Fight Against Racial Hate Crimes...

A timeline of a hate crime and injustice in the case of Vincent Chin:

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June 19, 1982 - Vincent Chin attends his bachelor party at a bar in the Detroit area. Two white autoworkers - who blame Japan for the downfall of the American auto industry - taunt Chin, who they mistakenly think is Japanese. Chin and his friends leave the club after an altercation. Twenty minutes later, the autoworkers find Chin in front of a McDonald's and attack him. One man restrains Chin while the other strikes him with a baseball bat, with repeated blows to his head.

June 23, 1982 - Vincent Chin dies as a result of severe head injuries.

March 16, 1983 - The assailants are found guilty of manslaughter after a plea bargain and each receive three years probation, a $3,000 fine, and $780 in court fees. Neither man spent a single day in jail for beating Vincent Chin to death. The prosecuting attorney is not present and neither Chin's mother nor any witnesses are called to testify.

March 31, 1983 - Asian Americans in the Detroit area found the "American Citizens for Justice" to lobby for a federal trial for Chin's murderers. The campaign was spearheaded by journalist Helen Zia, lawyer Lisa Chan, and Lily Chin - Vincent Chin's mother. Rallies in Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles help spur the burgeoning Asian American movement.

November 1983 - The U.S. Justice Department, following an FBI investigation, files charges and a federal grand jury indicts the murderers on two counts - one for violating Chin's civil rights, the other for conspiracy.

June 1984 - One of the assailants is found guilty of violating Chin's civil rights but not of conspiracy. He is sentenced to 25 years in prison, but is released on a $20,000 bond. The other murderer is cleared of both charges.

September 1986 - The conviction is overturned by a federal appeals court on a legal technicality; an American Citizens for Justice attorney is accused of improperly coaching prosecution witnesses.

April 1987 - Under intense public pressure, the Justice Department orders a retrial, but this time in a new venue: Cincinnati.

May 1987 - The Cincinnati jury clears the killer of all charges.

July 1987 - A civil suit orders him to pay $1.5 million to Chin's estate as part of a court-approved settlement. The murderer, however, disposes of his assets and flees the state. He has not paid any of the settlement.

September 1987 - Disgusted with the country's legal system, Lily Chin, Vincent Chin's mother, leaves the U.S. and moves to China, where she grew up.

June 2002 - Lily Chin passes away after a battle with illness.

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Don't think it can't happen to you or your loved ones. The hateful attitudes and ignorant beliefs that Vincent Chin's murderers had still persist to this day in our American culture. Fight the power. Educate your mind.

http://www.vincentchin.net
posted by G at 6:48 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33