The Birth of a Movement

Vincent Chin’s racially motivated murder sparked diverse communities to come together as a national movement calling for equality, justice and an end to racial discrimination. We are its legacy.

BACKGROUND: A CLIMATE OF HATE

In the 1970s and ‘80s, politicians, business leaders, the media and other influencers declared that an economic enemy was out to destroy America’s economy.

They said that Japan was to blame for America’s economic recession by invading America with fuel efficient cars and buying up prime US assets—even though German automakers and UK moguls were doing the same. By scapegoating Japan as a new Yellow Peril responsible for another Pearl Harbor, the predictable anti-Asian racism was whipped up into a frenzied innuendo that spilled into hate incidents and violence. 

In 1982 a 27 year-old Chinese American named Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit during a climate of intense anti-Japan prejudice.

Vincent’s white killers were autoworkers who believed the innuendo that Japan caused the collapse of Detroit’s auto industry: a witness overheard one of them say, “It’s because of you mother—‘s that we’re out of work”—even though Vincent was an American of Chinese ethnicity who was celebrating his bachelor party, and even though neither killer was out of work. The collective American “we” against the perceived Asian enemy, the perpetual foreign invader, the existential threat.

THE NEED CONTINUES

Now, more than 40 years after Vincent Chin was killed, Asian Americans are not only facing the public health crisis caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic, but the tsunami of anti-Asian hate has led to more than 11,000 hate incidents self-reported to a single website, StopAAPIhate.org.

Today, politicians, national security officials, the media and other influencers have declared a new economic, political, military, and public health enemy that is out to destroy America: China. Not surprisingly, history is repeating itself . Mass shootings of Asian Americans have taken place in Atlanta and Indianapolis; Asian elders have been fatally attacked; Asian women and girls are targeted two-to-one; and it seems that every day brings more horrific news of Asian Americans being violently assaulted -- simply because they look Asian. Hateful innuendo from prominent people, including the former president, has been clearly linked to spikes in anti-Asian attacks. Meanwhile, viral videos and news media replays give the impression that most anti-Asian attacks are by Black people, when two separate academic studies show that the majority of anti-Asian incidents are committed by adult white males.

THE VINCENT CHIN INSTITUTE

The Birth of a Movement

In the 1970s and ‘80s, politicians, business leaders, the media and other influencers declared that an economic enemy was out to destroy America’s economy.

Now, more than 40 years after Vincent Chin was killed, Asian Americans are not only facing the public health crisis caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic, but the tsunami of anti-Asian hate has led to more than 11,000 hate incidents self-reported to a single website, StopAAPIhate.org.

The Vincent Chin Institute brings together experienced activists with people and communities in need to keep the fight against Anti-Asian hate going strong.