Detroit Free Press - 30 years later: From the tragedy of Vincent Chin's killing came hope, unity
Thirty years has done little to stem the fury over the killing of Vincent Chin.
The 27-year-old busboy and engineering student was chased and beaten with a baseball bat in Highland Park by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz on June 19, 1982. He died four days later. Witnesses said the attackers hurled racial invectives at the Chinese man and blamed him for lost auto jobs in an era when Japanese cars were becoming the American choice.
Happy first day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, celebrate and embrace your heritage and culture. Know your roots
“It may be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, but if you open your eyes you’ll find our heritage in ever day of the year.” - Beau Sia
Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by researching your culture, learning something new whether it’s traditional dancing, music, or martial arts, or even our local native scripts like Baybayin and Kulitan. Embrace our rich Filipino heritage and culture and know your roots, yourself.
About Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian-Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).
Like most commemorative months, Asian-Pacific Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill. In June 1977, Reps. Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. The following month, senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration. Twelve years later, President George H.W. Bush signed an extension making the week-long celebration into a month-long celebration. In 1992, the official designation of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month was signed into law.
The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.
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