Who killed Vincent Chin?

Duration: 82

Year Published: 1988

Creator: Films News Now

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: This documentary analyzes the events surrounding the 1982 death of Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old Chinese American who was out for a night with friends when he was beaten to death by two white autoworkers in Detroit. Chin's assailants were twice tried and convicted, but ultimately went unpunished. The case provoked outrage from America's Asian communities which claimed that the killing was racially motivated and that discrimination was a factor in the leniency with which the defendants were treated. Interviews with people involved in the case, the defendants, their family and friends, witnesses, the first trial judge and Chin's mother are intercut with television and newspaper coverage. Media and popular culture images are employed to characterize Detroit both as the proud center of the U.S. auto industry and a depressed area due to the foreign competition which speeded its decline in the early eighties.