Illustration: Sun Ying

This year is the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's murder case. My 2009 documentary Vincent Who? details the 1982 murder of Chin, a 27-year-old Chinese American beaten to death in a racist killing by two white auto workers because they thought he was Japanese and blamed him for the loss of their jobs.

This week we have organized a couple of events in memory of Chin all through the US. On the anniversary of his death, videos, movie-screenings, art-making projects and panels are presented to the US public in different cities and remind them of the tragedy of Chin. This year, we also got many cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit, to join in the campaign and we call it Vincent's Remembrance Day.

We also got a resolution in the US Congress and in front of the White House, to issue a statement which appeals the whole nation to protect the civil rights of ethnic minorities in the US. We hope the memory of this tragedy can be used to unify Asian-Americans, as well as to help reconcile white groups with the idea that ethnic minorities have nothing to do with hard economic times against a backdrop of globalization.

The people getting involved in these activities are quite diverse. Many of them are Asian Americans including Indian-Americans, Korean-Americans, Japanese-Americans and Chinese-Americans. But there are white people as well.

Many white people are aware that the murder of Vincent Chin is not only important for the ethnic minority groups in the US, but also works as a reminder for the white groups. This reminder is especially precious for them under the circumstances of the global economic depression.

The time when Chin was murdered was quite unusual in US history. Many Japanese car makers and their products entered the US domestic market in the early 1980s. Lots of US auto workers lost their jobs because of the decline of domestic auto manufacturing. In part this was because of competition from the Japanese auto industry, which was why Japanese became scapegoats.

In the US, when the economic environment deteriorates and employment and benefits decline, racial conflicts rise. Ethnic minority groups are more likely to become victims of the wretched economic environment.

Generally, white Americans are sensitive to globalization and economic competition from other nations. They tend to feel that other groups in the US seize their working opportunities. At the moment, they feel that cheap products from other nations have stolen their jobs, houses and pensions. Asian-Americans are less sensitive to globalization and we even welcome it. We have seen opportunities in this historic trend.

It is important for the white groups to gradually accept competition from the global market. The US played a leading role in the global market. But the white groups need to adjust their psychology to a more diversified global market.

As time goes by, the US may be faced with more and more challenges from other nations. Perhaps it is time for the white groups to put aside their elitist poses and accept these changes.

And for Asian-Americans, although we have different histories, different cultural patterns and different backgrounds, it is necessary for us to form a unified community.

This notion is what Vincent Chin's case has brought to us. To accept and adjust to difference and variety in society is an American social tradition and should be valued by the white groups, especially in the context of globalization.

This article was compiled by Global Times reporter Fu Qiang, based on an interview with Curtis Chin, a Chinese American, and writer and producer of the 2009 documentary Vincent Who?. fuqiang@globaltimes.com.cn