Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987)

Rare Public Screening!
Thursday, May 23!

On a hot summer night in Detroit in 1982, Ronald Ebens, an autoworker, killed Vincent Chin, a young Chinese American draftsman with a baseball bat. Although he confessed, he never spent a day in jail. This gripping Academy Award-nominated film relentlessly probes the implications of the murder, for the families of those involved, and for the American justice system. Who Killed Vincent Chin?, a legacy title from POV’s archives, was recently restored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and also added to the National Film Registry. Best Documentary Nominee, 61st Annual Academy Awards.

This rare screening will be followed by a Q&A with civil rights icon and NJ native Helen Zia, the journalist and activist whose work helped activate a multifaith, multiracial coalition to fight for the first federal civil rights trial for an Asian American. Taylor Jung of NJ Spotlight News will moderate a conversation about the impact of this historic hate crime on the Asian American community then and now, and its parallels and lessons for us today.

K-12 teachers who attend the screening and talkback will receive 3 hours of professional development credit, a free copy of the Vincent Chin Legacy Guide for classroom use, and a special gift bag courtesy of Teach Asian American Stories (while supplies last). Please enter “TEACHER” in the notes field at checkout.

This screening is presented in partnership with AAPI New Jersey, AAPI Caucus Montclair State University, Bnai Keshet, Chinese American Community of Fort Lee, the Episcopal Church of St. James, Friends of the Howe House, Glen Ridge Diversity and Inclusion Association, Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice, Learn AAPI History Project, Livingston AAPI, Livingston Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, Montclair African American Heritage Foundation, Montclair History Center, Montclair Public Library, Out Montclair, Ridgewood AAPI Alliance, SOMA Cross Cultural Works, SOMA Action Racial Justice Committee, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Teach Asian American Stories, Temple Ner Tamid, Union Congregational Church, and United Asian Voices of West Orange.