Hate CrimeAgainst Asian Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hate CrimeAgainst Asian Americans - Essay Example In the film, both Chin's and Ebens' families believed they were the victims of this hate crime, with Ebens' ascribing his mistakes to the crushing recession of the automotive industry, and Chin's family focusing on the American government's unfair justice system and considering this to be a pan-ethnic Asian American issue. The 1987 Academy Award-nominated documentary of Christine Choy and Renee Tajima shows the episodes leading up to the slay and following the trial's shocking and unexpected verdict. Above a simple regurgitation of the case, it sets out with the query presented by the film's title to illustrate the greater sociological background of the incident. Surveillance and interviews of the conditions of the people employed in the plants and knowledge of the effects of the Japanese automobile industry on Detroit, the documentary challenges to clarify why an incident like this could be surpassed. Conceivably, the most significant touch of the film's plot is that, in spite of the upsetting lack of emotional involvement of Ebens when interviewed, the filmmakers draw connections between Vincent's and Ronald's histories. Both men moved to Detroit in optimism, hopes of finding better jobs, managed to "fit in," and however intersected in a misfortune ("Who Killed Vincent Chin"). The Tragic Death of an Asian American: It was on June 19, 1982 in Detroit when two jobless autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, clubbed Chin to death, they neither knew him nor cared who he was as a person. It did not matter that he was a Chinese American, rather than Japanese or even Japanese American. As far as they were concerned, they regarded Chin as some "species" of Asian who had robbed them of their livelihood, and they were determined to take revenge by depriving him of his life (Wei). In 1982, Detroit's automotive business was in the middle of a financial crisis, losing the rivalry for customers to Japanese automakers who were manufacturing better-quality cars for the American market. Rather than condemn the American automakers for their failure to compete successfully, people blamed the Japanese people, triggering widespread anti-Japanese feeling (Wei). In this economic rivalry, Eben and Nitz had become two of the "losers" and were set wandering in American society. On the contrary, Chin was happily employed, working as a draftsman at a local engineering firm. Furthermore, he was a young man in the town celebrating his bachelor's party, a young man with his whole life ahead of him. It can only be explained as a fit of racial disgust deepened by envy when Ebens and Nitz hunted Chin down and murdered him for their personal dilemma (Wei). The similarly sad part of this execution was how Vincent's murderers were handled by the criminal justice system. Ebens and Nitz pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 3 years probation, fined $3,780 and obliged to pay $780 in court expenses (Wei). In a second trial, the Justice Department convicted Ebens with the violation of Vincent's civil rights and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Nitz was acquitted. However, due to a technicality, new trial was ordered by a federal appeals court. At this retrial, whose jury consisted almost completely of White blue-collar men, both Ebens and Nitz were