THE HORRIFIC ENCOUNTER

This article contains disturbing details about what happened to Vincent Chin in June 1982. If you plan to discuss the story of Vincent Chin with students and young people, we recommend that you review the contents of this article first. We encourage you to prioritize your wellbeing before continuing with this article, and take as many breaks needed to process the information.

On June 19, 1982, a week before his wedding, Vincent’s pals took him out for the all-American ritual: the bachelor party. They went to a striptease bar in a tattered enclave of Detroit, near the crumbling mansions once home to auto magnates and Motown stars and only blocks away from the abandoned buildings where Henry Ford manufactured the Model T. Vincent, who grew up in that neighborhood, had been to the bar before. That night, his mother admonished him, “You’re getting married, you shouldn’t go there anymore.” “Ma, it’s my last time,” he replied. “Don’t say ‘last time,’ it’s bad luck,” she scolded, conjuring old Chinese superstitions. Vincent was being celebrated that night by three friends—two white and one Chinese Canadian. As they were enjoying themselves, two white men came in and sat across the stage from them; the two newcomers turned out to be Ronald Ebens, a heavy-set 43-year-old plant supervisor at a large auto factory, and his stepson, Michael Nitz, a 22-year-old laid-off autoworker who worked at a furniture chain store. They soon made it clear that they found Vincent’s presence distasteful. The friends of the groom-to-be had been paying the dancers handsomely to shower Vincent with attention. According to witnesses, Ebens seemed annoyed by the attention the Chinese American was receiving. Dancers from the bar said that Ebens, perhaps resentful that an Asian American man should be receiving so much attention, began calling Vincent racially offensive names, needling Vincent, suggesting that he wasn’t a real man. Vincent’s friends overheard Ebens say “Chink,” “Nip” and “f---er.” One of the dancers heard him say, “It’s because of motherf---ers like you that we’re out of work.” The usually good-natured Vincent uncharacteristically stood up to them and replied, “Don’t call me a f---er,” and a scuffle ensued. Nitz’s forehead was

cut; conflicting reports say that he was struck by a chair thrown by Vincent or Ebens. Both groups were ejected from the bar. Outside, in the parking lot, Ebens went straight to the trunk of his car and pulled out a baseball bat. Vincent ran, chased by Ebens and Nitz. When Vincent got away, the two white men returned to the parking lot, where Vincent’s two white friends and a Chinese Canadian friend, Jimmy Choi, were still standing. Ebens and Nitz ignored Vincent’s white friends and then went after Jimmy with their baseball bat, even though he had not been involved in the bar scuffle. Jimmy ran away too, saying later, “I ran for my dear life.” Intent on their purpose, Ebens and Nitz hunted for Chin and the other Chinese man in his group. For the next half hour, they drove through streets and alleys searching for Vincent and Jimmy. They paid a local neighborhood man $20 to help them “get the Chinese,” as that man testified. Finally, they spotted Vincent and his friend in front of a crowded McDonald’s on Woodward Avenue, Detroit’s main thoroughfare. Creeping up from behind the unsuspecting Asian Americans, Nitz grabbed Vincent in a bear hug, and his stepfather pummeled Vincent’s legs, arms, body with the bat—and finally, delivered a grand-slam swing into Vincent’s skull, “as if he was going for a home run,” said one eyewitness. The impact of the blows to Vincent’s chest broke a jade pendant that Vincent wore—to Chinese, a superstitious sign of bad luck. Two off-duty police officers finally stopped the carnage at gunpoint. “I ordered halt twice; if I hadn’t stopped him, he would have gone for another 20 blows,” recounted one officer. But for Vincent, it was over. Doctors operated on his battered head all night; surgeons said it looked like someone had beaten an animal. Vincent was placed on life support systems— but his brain was already dead. Four days later, on June 23, 1982, Vincent’s stricken mother and fiancée consented to turning off the life supports. Instead of attending Vincent’s wedding, his 400 wedding guests went to his funeral.

Conversation Questions

» Is it common for bridegrooms to go out with friends to celebrate before their weddings? » Why was the celebration of Vincent

Chin a threat to others? » What can be done to defuse a threatening situation? » What can we do to ensure that all people have the right to celebrate joy?