8 minute read
FROM A MOMENT TO A MOVEMENT
The newly formed ACJ had immediate organizing imperatives to address: » They needed to devise an effective legal approach; » They had to educate a news media and public who knew nothing about Asian Americans and Vincent Chin; » And they had to raise money and harness potential supporters who were eager to do something about anti-Asian violence and to obtain justice for Vincent Chin. ACJ’s first and foremost responsibility was to identify the legal strategy going forward, knowing that whatever direction they pursued would cost time and involve expensive legal fees. For nearly 100 years, Asians and Asian Americans were limited to low-paying labor that white workers wouldn’t do and they were shut out of professional careers even if they had been fortunate enough to get a college education. This was a legacy of the Exclusion era in the 1880s and an institutionalized structure of America’s employment and labor practices. As late as the mid-20th Century, the US had few Asian American attorneys, doctors, engineers or other professionals. In 1983, there were fewer than twenty Asian American attorneys in the entire state of Michigan and their job opportunities were limited. None of the Asian American lawyers practiced criminal law, but Harold Leon, an experienced civil litigator who was a veteran of Iwo Jima, headed up the legal committee and advised a three-pronged legal approach. First, ACJ would engage Liza Chan’s firm to persuade the sentencing judge, Charles Kaufman, to reconsider and vacate his sentence of probation and fines because the judge had been misled by defense attorneys who claimed that Vincent was to blame for the bar fight that resulted in his death. No prosecutors were present at sentencing to refute the misrepresentation and Liza Chan prepared a number of briefs and argued the case before the judge. But Kaufman only dug in deeper to justify his leniency for the white killers, again telling reporters that “These were not the kind of men you send to jail... You fit the punishment to the criminal, not to the crime.” Second, in case the first legal approach failed, ACJ would explore the possibility of filing an appeal. After some discussion, ACJ engaged additional attorneys to file briefs to the Michigan Court of Appeals to set aside Kaufman’s sentence. The third approach was to seek a federal civil rights investigation by the US Department of Justice. As the first two legal efforts turned sour, the FBI began to take an interest in the case. To capture the mounting frustration of the community, the ACJ decided to hold a citywide demonstration on May 9, 1983, at Kennedy Square in downtown Detroit, the site of many historic protests. ACJ had held a number of noisy picket
lines by city hall, but there had never been a protest in Detroit organized by the broad Asian American community before. The demonstration committee was headed by three senior scientists at the General Motors Tech Center: David Chock, Michael Lee and Man-Feng Chang. The rally events were timed to the minute and the outpouring of support was unprecedented. Waving American flags and placards that demanded equal justice, hundreds of professionals and housewives marched alongside waiters and cooks from Chinese restaurants across the region, with restaurant owners closing down during the busy weekday lunch rush to allow everyone, including their own families, to join the protest. Children and seniors sat in strollers and wheelchairs. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Filipinos marched in pan-Asian unity. The city’s major African American and religious organizations, local politicians and even the UAW presented statements of support. At the rally’s emotional close, Lily Chin appealed to the nation. Through her tears, she said haltingly, “I want justice for my son. Please help me so no other mother must go through this.” The May demonstration launched ACJ’s call for a federal prosecution of the killers for violating Chin’s civil rights to be in a public place—a place of public accommodation—even if that place was a sleazy bar. At the end of the rally, protestors marched to the Federal Courthouse singing the iconic civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome,” and hand-delivered to US Attorney Leonard Gilman a petition with 3,000 signatures seeking a federal civil rights investigation. A few weeks later in June, Lily Chin went to Washington, DC, with ACJ representatives to meet with officials at the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to discuss the possibility of a federal civil rights prosecution. In July, the Justice Department announced that the FBI would begin its investigation to determine if Vincent Chin’s civil rights were violated. Through its community outreach, media and public education efforts, ACJ spelled out its analysis of the anti-Asian hate mongering and violence that was taking place across the country. In doing so, it was ACJ that first articulated how Asian Americans were being scapegoated and racially targeted, blamed for the ills of the modern American economy, and how this was part of a larger pattern. Across the country, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Chicago—cities with far greater Asian American populations than Detroit’s—pan-Asian coalitions were being built to support the campaign
ACJ gave a name to anti-Asian violence, linking it to the same pattern of scapegoating, exclusion and ethnic cleansing that was integrated into federal law more than 100 years earlier. And ACJ declared it to be a presentday phenomenon that should concern all people. This set the framework for Asian American organizing nationally, and was a first step toward making Asian Americans visible in domestic and international economic, political and social policy contexts.
and to address anti-Asian violence in the local community. Fundraising efforts nationwide encompassed the entire spectrum of Chinese American society, including groups that were in opposition over their deeply held convictions, for example, about governments in Asia that were communist or right-wing dictatorships; or Japan’s role during World War II; or even if Asian Americans should come together and speak out about racism. The broad cross-section showed that the Vincent Chin case was able to overcome the forces of tradition and fear of the unknown, particularly in the arena of race politics. Asian Americans were finally joining together to correct perceived injustices. Such unity was difficult to maintain. There was nothing quick, easy or simple about pulling together this united coalition effort. The very diversity of Asian American communities, while on the one hand a source of strength and inspiration, on the other hand also kept people apart. It was rare for the highly educated suburban Mandarin speakers to be aligned so closely with Cantonese speaking Chinatown merchants, waiters and blue collar workers. Numerous differences in language, culture, class and kinship bonds had to be overcome. As ACJ’s media outreach and fundraising to pay for the legal strategy expanded, personality differences and ambitions needed to be managed and an attempt to take over the finances had to be squelched.
Then there were the political differences. Many Chinatown business owners were Chiang Kai-shek loyalists and fervent anti-Communists, while other Chinese American community groups openly supported Mao Tse-tung and the People’s Republic of China. Rarely would such political views be represented in the same place without open hostility. In San Francisco, with its large and savvy Chinese American population, rival political factions tried to elbow each other off the stage during a highly publicized media event that featured Lily Chin and ACJ at the iconic community service center, Cameron House. In addition to trying to keep peace among the Chinese American groups, ACJ continued to actively reach out to other Asian ethnicities, sometimes encountering cultural conflicts over gender roles. Detroit’s growing Korean community was represented by two large groups: the Korean Society of Greater Detroit and the Korean American Women’s Association, whose members were the Korean wives of non-Korean GIs who had been stationed in Korea. The two groups had rarely worked together—until the Vincent Chin case. The pan-Asian outreach to other ethnic communities also had a positive impact on the collective political awareness. For example, as the Detroit Asian Americans were mobilizing, the Japanese American community throughout America was waging a national campaign to expose and redress the harm done by the gross violation of civil liberties with their mass incarceration in World War II. Their community’s relationships with Congressperson Norman Mineta and other Congressional leaders were invaluable to getting the federal government to pay attention to ACJ’s Detroit campaign for justice. In addition, the Filipino and South Asian populations were more sizeable than any of the other Asian ethnicities in Michigan, and each had well-established connections with both Republican and Democratic parties. Their active involvement in the electoral arena highlighted to other Asian American groups the real power of personally engaging in politics, which many newer immigrant communities tended to avoid. ACJ’s policy was to work with all who supported its immediate campaign for justice for Vincent Chin, its principles of equal justice and standing together in solidarity with other communities to achieve equality, and to maintain an open and tolerant policy toward others. Vincent Chin’s story had struck such a raw nerve that some groups were competing to be affiliated with ACJ in order to use the community’s cause for their own advantage; but as long as ACJ stuck to its goals, principles and values, it was able to keep the fragile and new coalition together. At ACJ’s first fundraiser dinner, a prominent local citizen appeared, the architect Minoru Yamasaki, designer of the World Trade Center Towers in New York and other buildings of world renown. Yamasaki, then 73 years old, came unexpectedly to support the gathering as an ordinary citizen. Looking dignified but frail, he rose up slowly from his seat with the assistance of a companion. A hush fell over the group as Yamasaki spoke in a strong, clear voice and said, “If Asian people in America don’t learn to stand up for themselves, these injustices will never cease.”
Conversation Questions
» Why was the demonstration in 1983 an important event? What happened after the demonstration was over? » What were some of the factors contributing to Asian American coalition-building efforts? What were some of the challenges to these efforts? » In outreach and media efforts, the
ACJ talked about how Asian Americans were being scapegoated and
“racially-targeted, blamed for the ills of the modern American economy, and how this was part of a larger pattern.” When you look at reports of anti-Asian hate today due to the pandemic of COVID-19, have the ACJ’s talking points and concerns changed at all?
