The city of Detroit will honor five notable Detroiters with street signs bearing their names, one of those being Vincent Chin.
Chin was a Chinese-American man who was killed in 1982 by two white auto-workers in a racist assault. In the aftermath, the murderers didn’t serve prison time, and the judge sentenced them to probation. This sparked the local and national Asian American community to protest for equality and justice, which led to the formation of the American Citizens for Justice coalition, which helped organize protests and demonstrations calling for justice for Chin.
According to The Detroit News, Chin’s street sign will be placed at Cass Avenue and Peterboro Street, near Detroit’s former Chinatown. As mentioned by the Detroit Free Press, city records show that activists met up in Detroit’s Chinatown in response to Chin’s murder, and formed the coalition.
Other honorees include record producer and rapper J Dilla, singer and keyboardist Amp Fiddler, civil rights leader Horace L. Sheffield Jr, and NBA player Earl Cuerton.
As mentioned by The Detroit News, the five honorees were selected by the Detroit City Council on Tuesday from a pool of 13 that was submitted by petitioners, and was reviewed by the Historic Designation Advisory Board. According to Janese Chapman, director of the Historic Designation Advisory Board, honorees that were not chosen will be placed automatically on next year’s list of consideration.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and can be made here.
Please follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
IMHO to have maximum commemorative effect the street should be where the presuding Judge Charles Kaufman lived and there should be an annual remembrance march to recall the outrageous granting of probation to the defendants.