
Vincent Chin's family never got the justice they wanted. But his case changed things for those who came after him
CNN
The White men who killed the 27-year-old Chinese American in 1982 never spent a full day in jail. But the case paved the way for legal reforms around hate crimes, sentencing and victims' rights, and brought Asian Americans together under one movement.
"It's because of you little motherf****** that we're out of work," a White autoworker named Ronald Ebens yelled at the 27-year-old Chinese American, as a dancer who worked there later recalled.
The year was 1982, and Detroit -- then the automotive capital of the world -- was at the worst point of an economic downturn. Competition from Japan was cutting into the profits of US automakers, driving them to rely more heavily on automation and lay off hundreds of thousands of people across Michigan -- including Ebens' stepson Michael Nitz. And Japanese Americans -- or anyone mistaken for them -- became scapegoats.