About the Vincent Chin Institute

The Vincent Chin Insititute was founded in 2023 to continue the mission and work of the past 40 years of movement and coalition building against Anti-Asian hate.

Today, the Vincent Chin Institute brings together the movement’s leaders to create intergenerational resources for the support, education and advancement of the future of the movement.

In the opinion of our expert network, the current period of anti-Asian hate is likely to continue for several years—so it is even more imperative for our historical expertise and memory to be passed on in a systematic, constructive and cohesive manner. Learn about our mission and guiding principles.

Read Vincent’s story and learn about the Birth of our Movement.

OUR MISSION

The Vincent Chin Institute was founded with the goal of uniting APA organizers to fight Anti-Asian Hate. This is our mission:

  • To mobilize a generation of known leaders who are no longer building their own careers, organizations or reputations, but who wish to use their expertise where they can be most effective in countering this current wave of anti-China based anti-Asian hate.

  • To bring the skills of this established, veteran APA organizers to communities where there is NO or very LIMITED Asian American advocacy infrastructure.  

  • To use this network to bridge both organizing and narrative connectivity between multiple sectors.

Photo: Vincent Chin, Courtesy of The Estate of Vincent and Lily Chin

WHAT WE DO

We are a collective of seasoned activists, using our expertise in fighting Anti-Asian hate to support, education and mobilize a new generation. Together, we will:

  • Establish a national  network of veteran community leaders who are willing and able to provide direct expertise and servant leadership to incident areas where little to no Asian American infrastructure exists. Such servant leaders will work with individuals and communities who wish to have such assistance and will act as a connective tissue with the national and regional API organizations and avoid turf issues.   

  • Create narrative change integrated with historical strategic lessons: putting current day anti-Asian hate in the context of successful multiethnic, multiracial, cross class organizing that is rooted in the Black Civil Rights movement.  

  • Provide education via multiple and multilingual channels, in partnership with the Smithsonian APAC, American Citizens for Justice, and many others, using the definitive account by the Vincent Chin Legacy Guide to reach K-12 as well as adults.   

With these three, focused program areas, the Vincent Chin Institute will play a vital role in making critical linkages for underserved API communities, serving as a connective tissue between those communities,  today’s generation of committed API organizations and the lessons from historical strategies in Asian American organizing. In doing so, the VCI also intends to enable a new generation of leadership to lead the Vincent Chin legacy, while those who know the legacy first hand are still able to recount those key lessons. 

PRINCIPLES

We are a fundamentally collaborative network dedicated to supporting and uniting others working toward the same goals. These are our guiding principles:

  • Our work is to bring the marginalized Asian American communities to the center. 

  • The Institute can serve as an intergenerational connective tissue to reach and address Asian Americans who are unserved or critically underserved. 

  • That to work collaboratively is to address needs that have not been met and support others who are doing beautiful work in adjacent areas. 

  • That together we are so much more than the sum of our parts.

 
OUR VALUES

Our values run through all of the work we undertake on behalf of the pan-Asian movement. They are:

  • Integrity 

  • Honesty 

  • Accountability 

  • Timeliness 

  • Accuracy

  • Generosity 

  • Inclusion  

A Message From Helen Zia on Behalf of the Vincent & Lily Chin Estate

“Today's pandemic of anti-Asian hate has uncanny parallels to the anti-Asian hate of the 1980s. American Citizens for Justice’s (ACJ) founding principles are an important part of Vincent’s legacy: our movement’s commitment to equal justice for all and a stand against racism and discrimination of any kind.

As Vincent’s mother Lily said on national television, “Our skin color may be different, but our blood is the same.” The Chin Estate, ACJ, and the Planning Committee believe that Vincent Chin’s legacy will continue to advance the ideals of equal justice; solidarity against racism and hate that Lily Chin courageously stood for; and respect for the individuals and communities who stood together for justice for Vincent Chin and who are standing up today for all communities to live without fear of violence.”

— Helen Zia, Executor, Estate of Lily and Vincent Chin