On the streets of Detroit in 1982, Vincent Chin, an innocent Asian-American man, was beaten to death in an anti-Asian hate crime. The two attackers were tried but did not spend any time in jail.
This Wednesday, Asian Society and the Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) hosted a film screening and discussion of the documentary “Vincent Who?” with Curtis Chin, the documentary’s writer-producer, who has won many awards for his work. The film examines the effects of Vincent Chin’s death.
Judges released both of Vincent Chin’s assailants, Robert Ebens and Michael Nitz, with a $3,000 fine and three years of probation, a decision that infuriated Asian Americans, according to the film.
In the documentary, Curtis Chin presents various Asian-American political activists speaking out against discrimination and encouraging other Asian-Americans to speak out and continue sharing their stories in order to achieve racial equality.
Curtis Chin got the idea for his documentary after visiting his family in Detroit and witnessing preparations for the anniversary of the Vincent Chin trial. Although not related, Vincent Chin and Curtis Chin were childhood family friends.
“I wasn’t really interested in [the Vincent Chin case] until in school, [when] my teachers accidentally called me Vincent,” said Curtis Chin.
By writing and producing “Vincent Who?”, Curtis Chin departed from his roots in writing comedy scripts in Hollywood by writing the more serious documentary. Although Curtis Chin initially did not expect the production of the documentary to be so large, many volunteered and supported him in his project.
There had been various other racial hate crimes across the country, but Vincent Chin’s death was a “turning point” in Asian-American culture, according to the documentary.
Frank Wu, the author of “Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White,” said, “before the Vincent Chin case, there weren’t Asian-Americans.”
Before Vincent Chin’s death, Asian-Americans defined themselves as Asian-American subgroups, such as Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Indian-Americans, according to Wu.
Throughout the documentary, Curtis Chin repeatedly mentions the idea of Pan-Asia, in which all kinds Asian-American communities cooperate for their rights and positions in the American society.
“The question is, how do you get Asian-Americans to feel like Asian-Americans?” Curtis Chin said.
Curtis Chin explained that Asian-Americans’ inability to identify with their own race is what actually halts the political mobilization of Asian-American groups.
“Vincent Who?” intends to not only recognize Vincent Chin’s death but also to bring these minority communities together to fight for their rights, according to Curtis Chin.
Through his documentary, Curtis Chin wishes for his audience to learn from a racist hate crime and be motivated take action to make a difference based on these lessons.
Curtis Chin said to his Andover audience, “A lot of good things are happening, and they are largely by people your age.”
Ceylon Auguste-Nelson ’12 said of the documentary, “I found it interesting when he [Chin] was talking about his own struggles, he clearly had passion for two causes, one of being an Asian American and the other of being homosexual.”
Besides being a film writer and producer, Curtis Chin co-founded the Asian-American Writers Workshop and Asian Pacific Americans for Progress.
In 2008, he served on President Barack Obama’s Asian American Leadership Council and assisted Obama in reaching out to different Asian American communities through fund-raising and campaigns.
Curtis Chin mentioned that he may be producing a potential screenplay as his next project. The movie would be an updated version of “The Breakfast Club.”
The DVD version of “Vincent Who?” is available to community members in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library and CAMD. Access is also available for free at www.vincentwhomovie.com.