Thanks to the Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) for the heads-up: you can now watch the seminal 2009 documentary Vincent Who? for free online at vincentwhomovie.com through the end of July.
The film will also be screened live on the following dates:
Friday, July 8, 8 p.m.: Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif. Salon 5/6. Free screening as part of the inaugural Japanese American Citizens League conference.
Wednesday, August 3: Queens College, Queens, NY. Details TBA.
Saturday, August 13, 10 a.m.: Detroit Chinese Community Center, Detroit, Mich.. Free screening as part of the Asian American Journalists Association national convention.
Of course, we also encourage you to buy the DVD. If you’re not familiar with the film or the story behind it, here’s the details:
VINCENT WHO? (2009, 40 min): In 1982, Vincent Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two white autoworkers at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments. The culprits received a $3,000 fine and no jail time. Outraged by this injustice, Asian Americans around the country galvanized for the first time to form a pan-Asian identity and civil rights movement.
VINCENT WHO? explores this important legacy through interviews with the key players at the time as well as a new generation of activists impacted by Vincent Chin. It also looks at the case in relation to the larger narrative of Asian American history, in such events as Chinese Exclusion, Japanese Internment, the 1992 L.A. Riots, anti-Asian hate crimes, and post-9/11 racism. Ultimately, the film asks how far Asian Americans have come since the Chin case, and how far we have yet to go.
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