哈佛法学院：Reenacting the Vincent Chin Trial

 

As part of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association’s (APALSA) annual conference, “Soft Power Hard Knockout: The Asian American Punch,” on Feb. 4, Harvard Law School presented a re-enactment of the Vincent Chin trial, written by Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Chin’s wife, Kathy Hirata Chin, a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Dean of Students Marcia Sells, Professor Michael Klarman, and Professor Mark Wu also participated in the reenactment.

Mar 6, 2017

An American of Chinese descent, Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat in Detroit in 1982 by two assailants who made comments at the time of the attack suggesting that their animosity towards Chin stemmed from mass layoffs in the Detroit auto industry due to competition from Japanese automakers. After a criminal trial in state court resulted in lenient sentences for both defendants, grassroots activism in the Asian American community led to two federal civil rights actions, citing racial discrimination as the cause of Chin’s murder. Although the defendants were ultimately found not liable for civil rights violations, the case catalyzed the Asian American civil rights movement in the 1980s. The reenactment, adapted by Judge Chin and his wife from court transcripts, portrayed the three trials that followed the attack. (Judge Chin and his wife have no relation to the victim.

For the HLS performance, students assumed the parts of trial attorneys, witnesses, and jurors. Professor Wu played the lead prosecutor,  and Dean Sells and Professor Klarman portrayed trial judges. The performance used the actual transcripts from all three trials, including opening and closing statements and direct and cross-examination of witnesses.

完整报道： https://today.law.harvard.edu/apalsa-conference-judge-chin-brings-civil-rights-trial-life/