i'd rather you never heard my voice

i'm not sure when i stopped blogging about important issues and started highlighting the events of my day, but i'm kind of annoyed by it. i guess i haven't been feeling inspired enough with my academic life lately and i don't find anything i would want to share. ugh. that's frustrating.

that said, there is a documentary we watched for my asian american media studies course titled, "who killed vincent chin." it's about a 27 year old asian american man that was beaten to death by two men [with a baseball bat]. this was a brutual, brutual murder. according to one policeman his brains were scattered on the pavement [horrifying]. anyway, the two men--a father and his stepson, admitted to beating down vincent. they had been at an adult club where a fight had ensued between vincent and the two. vincent and his friends were out for his bachelor party--a scuffle about one of the dancers ensued. later, the two men paid a man off the street to help them find vincent. when they found him they beat him down in the street. four days later vincent was dead. the father and his stepson got a $3,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. for brutually beating this man.

the case turned into a civil rights lawsuit when helen zia and others in the asian american community in detroit got involved. ultimately, the civil rights suit did not come through and the man and his stepson are free to walk the streets after this horrible incident. the scuffle seemed to have been caused by the tense environment in detroit at the time. the automotive industry was the major source of income for many of the residents. unemployment rates were high, people were out of work, and tension was high. there was a fear of 'economic miscegenation' [coined by kent a. ono && vincent pham]. there was this fear that the japanese were going to take over the auto industry and therefore, take over the country. this fear, caused violence, hatred toward asian americans in detroit. it seems the vincent chin case was a direct result of these tensions and this fear. one of the dancers at the night club claims the stepfather said, 'because of motherfuckers like you, we're out of jobs' or something along those lines. chin was mistaken for a japanese american, and, perhaps because of this sort of ignorance he was killed.

in addition to this, i'd say the judicial system greatly failed vincent and his family and friends. there were several shady dealings with the judge that resided over the first trial regarding vincent's case. also, the civil rights lawsuit trial was held in ohio where there seemed to be less knowledge about the high tensions involving the auto industry and asian americans in detroit around this time. i highly recommend viewing this documentary. it was less one-sided than i though it would be and includes interviews with the two men that murdered vincent.

to read more click here.

l.m. montgomery once stated in an anne of green gables novel, "isn't it strange how people misunderstand each other? most of the trouble in life comes from misunderstanding."

sweeter dreams.
k



P.S.--- R.I.P. maggie's nana...lila walker...she died last night. i loved her.