This Week on One Detroit:

Through A New Lens: Revisiting ‘Who Killed Vincent Chin?’, Asian American Civil Rights Nearly 40 Years Later

June 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder, a hate crime that sparked the modern Asian American civil rights movement still seen today, and Detroit was its epicenter. It was June 19, 1982, when Chinese American Detroiter Vincent Chin was brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat outside of a nightclub in Highland Park. 

The tragedy struck at a time when Detroit automakers were struggling economically due to the rise in sales of Japanese-imported cars, and was fueled by a rise in anti-Asian sentiment. While the two white men involved in Vincent Chin’s murder were auto workers, though ultimately they served no prison time. All this culminated into a wave of new Asian American civil rights groups across the country, demanding justice for Chin and equality for the Asian American population. 

At that time, New York filmmakers Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña set out to tell the story of Vincent Chin’s murder and what unfolded after with Detroit Public TV’s Juanita Anderson, but making a documentary of that scope at a local PBS station was a gargantuan challenge. In 1988, the film was nominated for an Academy Award and, in 2021 it was inducted into the National Library of Congress’ Film Registry

Nearly four decades after the film premiered, the filmmakers and Anderson come together once again with Detroit-area filmmaker Chien-An Yuan to talk about the making of the “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” documentary, the civil rights movement they covered in real-time, and the significance the film still holds nearly 40-years later. 

“Who Killed Vincent Chin?” will air on Detroit Public Television at 10 p.m. ET June 20. Plus, next week, four days of local and national events commemorating the 40th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s death will take place June 16-19.

Michigan Business Leaders Say Education, Trained Workforce Key to Making Michigan More Competitive

In the national and global race for strong professional talent, how can Michigan get a leg up on the competition? How does the Great Lakes state become a top 10 state where families and young professionals want to live, work, grow and play? Some of Michigan’s top business leaders gathered together to answer these questions and debate how to make Michigan more competitive at the Detroit Regional Chambers 2022 Mackinac Policy Conference

Featuring a laundry list of CEOs and presidents, the panel’s conversation focused on how business and political leaders can make Michigan an attractive place to live and work, as well as the importance of having an educated and trained workforce of the future.  One Detroit revisits a portion of the panel’s conversation on the future of work and jobs in Michigan. 

Moderated By: Paul W. Smith, Host, WJR NewsTalk 760 AM.

The panelists include: 

  • Awenate Cobbina, Chief Executive Officer, Bedrock Group LP; Chairman, Michigan Economic Development Corp. Executive Committee
  • Maureen Krauss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Detroit Regional Partnership
  • Sandy Pierce, Senior Executive Vice President, Private Bank and Regional Banking Director and Chair, Huntington Michigan
  • Dug Song, Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco Secure; Co-Founder, Duo Security
  • Sandy K. Baruah, President and Chief Executive Officer, Detroit Regional Chamber
  • Tina Freese Decker, President and Chief Executive Officer, BHSH System
  • Quentin Messer Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Michigan Economic Development Corp.; President and Chair, Michigan Strategic Fund
  • Howard Ungerleider, President and Chief Financial Officer, Dow

Find more on-demand coverage from the 2022 Mackinac Policy Conference sessions, including on-site interviews by One Detroit Founding Managing Editor Christy McDonald on One Detroit’s website or YouTube

 

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