Ask yourself these questions - "How far have you come? What would you do if someone close to you was murdered and the person who was convicted and admitted doing it has never had to go to jail for his crime?"

In a time where the economic situation was much like ours, a young man is mistaken for someone else. On June 19, 1982, a young Chinese American man named Vincent Chin went out with three of his friends to celebrate his upcoming wedding. Little did he know that what was supposed to be an evening of enjoyment would turn out to be his last. While at a bar with his friends, Chin encountered two white auto workers who had recently been laid off from their jobs.

At this time, it is imperative to understand that the U.S. auto industry was facing harsh competition from the Japanese auto makers. The U.S. Auto industry kept manufacturing their vehicles but these fresh cars were difficult to sell. As a result, there were mass layoffs. Anti-Japanese sentiment was prevalent and many Japanese cars and car owners were targets of hate crimes.

Two of the freshly unemployed workers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, were drinking in the same bar as Chin and his friends. Frustrated with their situation and out of work, they vented on Chin and his friends. Nitz called Chin a “Jap” and Ebens said “It’s because of you motherfuckers that we’re out of work!” A fight followed suit and both parties were kicked out by the manager of the establishment

Eager to continue the fight, Ebens and Nitz searched for Chin after the fight. They searched until they found and cornered Chin at a McDonalds. Nitz held Chin down while Ebens bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat. The blows were so hard that it was reported that there was brain matter on the floor. Chin was pronounced brain dead and his body died four days later in a hospital. Before Chin lost consciousness he whispered to a friend, “It isn’t fair”. The people who were invited his wedding instead attended his funeral.

Ebens and Nitz, the perpetrators, were tried several times in court. In America, when someone is murdered, someone goes to jail. Instead, Ebens and Nitz never spent a night in a cell for the murder of Vincent Chin. Ebens and Nitz were convicted in a county court for manslaughter but the charges were brought down from second-degree murder. Instead, they were fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $780 in court costs. This is hardly even a slap on the wrist and the two men were free.

The murder of Vincent Chin is highly controversial because of the racial motivations that prompted Ebens and Nitz to brutally bash Chin’s skull and the compassionate sentences that were bestowed on the two murderers. At that time, there was stiff competition from overseas and the environment was a motivating factor that contributed to Chin’s unexpected death.

When the documentary "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" was shown in March to begin Asian and Asian American Week at Stony Brook, many young college students were left in shock and disbelief. Shock because of the injustice of the whole thing. Apparently, it appears that both Ebens and Nitz not only spat in the face of the law and got away with it but it was eerie that they could murder and not feel an ounce of remorse about the whole event. One student mentioned whether it was possible for them to be human, to be so cold and not feel guilty about taking someone else’s life. Ebens, the one who bashed Chin’s skull in, stared into the camera as if he were soulless. Some of us were left in disbelief. It seems that, prior to the documentary many of us had never heard of  Vincent Chin and his significance. It appears that the media did not have a strong interest in the murder of Chin.

Vincent Chin’s murder was unjustifiable. The perpetrators still walk free to this very day, without an ounce of guilt. We must be vigilant that if such a tragedy were to occur again, we must strive to make our voices heard and make sure that justice will serve. We have come too far to let another Vincent Chin incident occur again.

So what would you do if someone, a friend, a relative, a significant other, died and the perpetrator remained free? What is your resolve?

Full history of Vincent Chin and how his murder inspired the pan-ethnic Asian American movement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Chin