Coronavirus is No Excuse for Hate

Remembering Vincent Chin

BOISE – On June 19, 1982, 27-year-old Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American man, was out with friends in Detroit, Michigan, when he encountered two white autoworkers. In the 1980s, the American auto industry faced growing troubles, including competition from Japanese auto manufacturers. Apparently assuming Chin was Japanese, the two autoworkers harassed him about Japan’s success in the auto industry. This led to a fight. After they were thrown out of the club, the fight continued in the parking lot. The two autoworkers then searched the neighborhood for Chin and his friends. Outside of a McDonald's, one of the autoworkers held Chin while the other repeatedly struck Chin in the head with a baseball bat. Four days later, on June 23, Chin died.

A state court plea bargain reduced the second-degree murder charges against the two killers to manslaughter. They were both sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. Two civil rights trials and a civil suit followed, but neither killer spent a day in jail.

Some 38 years later, Vincent Chin’s senseless death serves as a grim reminder of our country’s often forgotten history of discrimination and hate crimes committed against Asians, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. As we confront the novel coronavirus, it has never been more important for us to remember this history. Unfortunately, I have received reports that hate crimes in this country against Asians, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are on the rise. We will never tolerate this.

My office, like my Department of Justice colleagues and our federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecution partners throughout the nation, is committed to fighting hate crimes like the one that took Vincent Chin’s life. Our Constitution and our laws guarantee freedom from discrimination based on race, color, religion and national origin. I learned these values from my dear parents, trusted family and friends, church, and by experience. I hold these principles dearly. My office stands ready to guard these principles by prosecuting those who violate them.

To this end, I ask each and every one of you to help us protect the principles and values codified in our laws and our great Constitution. You can do this by reporting hate crimes to law enforcement. If we ignore hate crimes, we erode the very fabric of our country’s dearest principles and values. The novel coronavirus threat, and our fight against it, is with the disease itself, not with another nation, race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

There were many tragedies in the Vincent Chin case. But the biggest tragedy was that Chin was murdered for no reason other than how he looked. As you go about your day, please take a moment to remember this tragedy, and other hate crimes like it. Report hate crimes to law enforcement.