Paula Yoo - From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement

FROM A
WHISPER
TO A
RALLYING CRY

THE KILLING OF
VINCENT CHIN AND THE
TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE
ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT

PAULA YOO

Copyright 2021 by Paula Yoo

All rights reserved

First Edition

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Jacket design: Jared Oriel

Front jacket: mural by Gaia; photograph by Patrick Hershberger

Back jacket photograph: Jarod Lew

Back jacket artwork: Sintex

Book design by Yang Kim

Production manager: Anna Oler

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Yoo, Paula, author.

Title: From a whisper to a rallying cry : the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian American movement / Paula Yoo.

Description: New York, NY : Norton Young Readers, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Ages 1318

Identifiers: LCCN 2020053662 | ISBN 9781324002871 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781324002888 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Asian AmericansCivil rightsJuvenile literature. | Chin, Vincent, 1982 | Murder victimsUnited StatesJuvenile literature. | Chin, Vincent, 1982

Classification: LCC E184.A75 Y56 2021 | DDC 305.895/073dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020053662

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For my dad,
Young Sik Yoo
(19382016)

CONTENTS

Vincent Chins smile first caught Vikki Wongs attention when they began dating in 1978. Vince was a happy personpositive, always on the go, Vikki told the press after his beating death made front-page headlines. They were to be married on June 28, 1982.

T odays the big anniversary. Dont talk to your mom about that guy.

Jarod Lews phone beeped. He glanced down at the screen to see a mysterious text message from his cousin.

Jarod was confused. What guy? he typed.

You dont know about Vincent Chin? his cousin texted back.

No.

A few moments later, his cousin simply wrote: Look h im up.

It was June 19, 2012. Jarod sat at his desk, eating a corned beef sandwich for lunch while he worked. For the past year, the twenty-five-year-old aspiring photographer had been employed at a family-owned portrait studio just outside Detroit.

Jarod glanced around the empty office. It was near the end of his lunch break. He wasnt allowed to use the work computer for personal use, and his boss would be back soon. He quickly typed the words Vincent Chin into the Google search bar.

The first image that popped up onscreen was a Detroit Free Press front-page story from 1982. SLAYING ENDS COUPLES DREAM, the headline blared.

The photo to the left of the headline featured a beautiful twenty-four-year-old Chinese American woman, dressed in a trim blue button-down shirt and stylish jeans. Her wavy black hair fell past her shoulders. Her arms were wrapped snugly around a handsome young mans waist. He wore a collared white shirt, jeans, and a jade pendant necklace around his neck. They both smiled for the camera.

Jarod didnt need to read the photo caption to know the young woman in the photo was Vikki Wong. He recognized his mother instantly.

It was a very surreal moment, Jarod remembered years later. I definitely recognized my mom right away. I felt my heart drop a little. I looked at it, and everything became super quiet. My hands were shaking a little bit, and Im not going to lie, my heart was racing.

Jarod immediately looked up Vincent Chin on Wikipedia. He skimmed the introductory paragraph in shock. On June 19, 1982, Vincent Jen Chin (May 18, 1955June 23, 1982) was a Chinese-American draftsman who was beaten to death by two white men, Chrysler plant supervisor Ronald Ebens and his stepson, laid-off autoworker Michael Nitz.

June 19, 1982. Jarod did the mathVincent Chin was only two years older than he was now when he was killed exactly thirty years ago. So this was the big anniversary his cousin had warned him about.

Jarod clicked on more links. News headlines from the 1980s flashed across the screen:

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER ? THE LIFE AND DEATH OF VINCENT CHIN

VINCENT CHIN CASE: JUSTICE OR MOCKERY ?

A BAT, A GAVEL, A QUESTION OF JUSTICE

There were newer headlines, from 2012, as well.

RONALD EBENS, THE MAN WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN, APOLOGIZES 30 YEARS LATER

FIGHTING ON FOR VINCENT CHIN: OAKLAND COUNTY MARKS 30th ANNIVERSARY OF KILLING

There was even an official press release from the White House on the thirtieth anniversary: REMEMBERING VINCENT CHIN .

Jarod had never heard of Vincent Chin before in his life. And yet even the White House was commemorating this mans thirty-year legacy.

And then Jarod found an old newspaper photo of Vincent Chin standing with three other Chinese American men. They were all dressed in black tie, with red roses pinned to their lapels, clearly all groomsmen for a friends wedding party.

Jarod recognized one of the young men in the photo. It was his uncle. First his cousin, then his mother, and now his uncle? How deeply intertwined was Vincent Chin with Jarods family? Thats why my cousin was warning me not to upset my mom, he realized.

Suddenly, Jarod heard his bosss voice.

Hey, what are you doing? his boss asked as he entered the office. You gotta get off Google and get to work.

Jarod couldnt bear to look at the photo of Vincent Chin on his screen anymore. He turned the computer off.

...

When Jarod met his mom for lunch the following Saturday, all he could see in his mind was that grainy newspaper photo from 1982 of a twenty-four-year-old Vikki hugging her fianc, Vincent, tightly.

I definitely had a hard time, he remembered. I wanted to be extra nice to her, which was not the most normal thing for me because I was very confrontational with my parents.

So Jarod forced an extra cheerful smile onto his face. Hi Mom, he said, his voice unusually upbeat. Good to see you!

But Vikki frowned, suspicious. Jarod never said things like that. What was going on with her son?

Why are you being so nice to me? she asked immediately. You must want something.

Jarods smile froze busted.

Why cant a son be nice to his mom? he said quickly, trying to make a joke.

To his relief, Vikki smiled.

As they sat down for lunch, Jarod decided not to ask her about that guy. Instead, he did what she had unconsciously taught him to dobury his feelings.

It must have been in my genes, like my mom, he said. I just shoved it down and pushed it somewhere else. Left it hiding in a dark corner. I didnt want to deal with it.

So Jarod said nothing, even though he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders.

W hen Ronald Ebens swung the Jackie Robinson Louisville Slugger baseball bat one last time at Vincent Chin, it was as if he were going for a home run.

Vincent wasnt supposed to be here. Not lying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of Woodward Avenue across from a McDonalds in Detroit on a warm June night. He was supposed to be out celebrating his bachelor party with his best friends Jimmy Choi, Gary Koivu, and Bob Siroskey.