On June 19, 1982, a Chinese American draftsman named Vincent Chin, 27, was murdered by two autoworkers in Detroit who assumed Chin was Japanese-American. This hate crime, fueled by the belief that Japanese auto imports were to blame for the decline in American auto production and sales in the early 1980s, sparked a new movement for Asian American civil rights in Michigan and across the United States.
Today, 40 years after the killing of Vincent Chin, his legacy lives on as one of the most influential figures for Asian-American civil rights in America. But despite the legal and cultural significance of his death, his story is seldom told in schools and history books - even in Michigan.
In order to bridge this gap, author Paula Yoo set out to create a young adult book that tells the story of Vincent Chin and his impact on the Asian-American civil rights movement in a way that is accessible to young people. On today’s show, Yoo joined to discuss her young adult book, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement.
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GUESTS:
Paula Yoo, author, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement.
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