Following is announcement from OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates:
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates remembers the 35th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder on June 19th, 1982.
Mistaken as a Japanese by two white men, Chin – a 27-year old Chinese American – was blamed and beaten to death for their unemployment and the decline of American auto companies. The men received a $3,000 fine and three years of probation. Neither men ever served time in jail.
This hate crime is one of many that have happened to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI’s.) In 2015 alone, 111 hate crimes occurred against Asians and four hate crimes occurred against Pacific Islanders (PI’s.) This is only a slight improvement from 2014, during which 140 hate crimes occurred against Asians and three occurred against PI’s.
“Vincent Chin’s case was the first time that federal hate crimes laws were used in an Asian American case,” said Sharon M. Wong, OCA National President, in a statement. “However, this case was still a huge loss to the AAPI community and revealed the need to address anti-AAPI bias. We must remain vigilant and push for stronger enforcement of these laws. Our current political and cultural climate has emboldened some individuals to actively harm members of our communities. We cannot continue with such fractures and must unite against hate in all its forms. We call on local law enforcement members to work on fair implementation of hate crime laws and on the civil rights community to ensure that hate crimes are tried to the fullest extent of the law.”
Individuals can report incidents of hate at AAPI Hate Crimes Reporting Website, which can be found at aapihatecrimes.org. The OCA website only collects incidents of hate and does not report cases to the Department of Justice or to law enforcement.
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national organization of community advocates dedicated to the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific American Islanders (AAPI’s.)