Watching Vincent Who? - Vincent Chin's Legacy

Mike Liu

The film Vincent Who? resurrects the meaning of the brutal death of Vincent Chin in Detroit and the ensuing campaign. Inspired by the 25th anniversary of Vincent Chin's killing, Curtis Chin, himself a Detroit native, begins with the premise that the meaning has been forgotten in the current generation of young Asian Americans.

Vincent Chin was a Chinese American draftsman, who two white autoworkers, conflating all Asians with Japanese, beat to death with a baseball bat. When a white judge sentenced the two to probation and a $3,000 fine, his case became a rallying point for the Asian-American community. Nationwide pressure forced the civil rights trial and conviction of Ron Ebens and Michael Nitz. That conviction was eventually overturned.

However, the film focuses less on the case than the meaning of the case. Vincent Chin was the first national case about Asian Americans. Vincent Who? connects Vincent Chin’s case and campaign through the voices of young activists from the area and their experiences with racism, as well as those activists across the country who had responded to the case. Vincent Who? captures the tension through intercutting interviews with archival footage. The footage is most moving recounting the passage of Lily Chin, Vincent’s mother, who tirelessly campaigned for justice. While archival footage also suggests the intensity of the case, extended interviews with principals and others who knew of case, interpret it.

The mash-up is effective in conveying how it moved people. Renee Tajima, who made the film, captures the details of people, particularly Lily Chin. Helen Zia, who was a Detroit activist in the contemporary ad hoc committee of the time, places it within civil rights law for “all Americans” and its resonance for Asian Americans. Other well-known figures like Judy Chu, Lisa Ling and Kelly Hu appear with surprising militancy as well as younger, less celebrated organizers.

The ends in an argument for political power, somewhat weighed toward electoral power, and activism to be able to prevent continuation of cases of Vincent Chin and other forms of injustices. Vincent Who? connects these injustices to issues like current cases of youth harassment, and post-9/11 harassment of South Asians.