SF / National Townhall on Hate Crimes and Screening of "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" June 27, 2007

Events throughout the country marking the 25th anniversary of the brutal murder of Vincent Chin will include screenings of "Who Killed Vincent Chin?", panels on hate crimes and receptions.

On June 19, 1982, former autoworkers Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz mortally beat Chin, then a 27-year-old Chinese American, out of hatred for the Japanese – who were blamed for the recession in the American auto industry. Ebens and Nitz, who thought Chin was of Japanese ancestry, both pleaded guilty for killing Chin and were sentenced to three years probation and a fine of $3,780.

Ebens and Nitz never served a jail sentence for killing a man who was nine days away from his wedding.

The race-based murder against Vincent Chin sparked the modern Asian American activist movement

Organized by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (apaforprogress.org), events are scheduled from June 19-30 in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Portland, Grand Rapids and other cities. Receptions in NYC, SF and LA are sponsored by Imaginasian TV. Asianweek is a media sponsor.

The event in San Francisco is co-sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society and takes place on June 27 from 6:30 p.m. at the community meeting room of Chinese For Affirmative Action, 17 Walter U Lum Place (across from Portsmouth Sqare; on Clay between Grant Ave and Kearny St.). Panelists will include the Honorable Yvonne Lee (Member of the SF Police Commission and former Commissioner of the President's Commission on Civil Rights), Malcolm Yeung (Staff Attorney, Asian Law Caucus) and Kavneet Singh (Managing Director, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Learn more about Vincent Chin at http://www.vincentchin.net.

Official Website: http://www.apaforprogress.org