On June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American, was beaten to death by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz in Detroit. Ebens and Nitz met Vincent Chin in a strip club where Vincent Chin was having his bachelor party. Nitz was recently laid off from his job and with Ebens, his stepfather, started a fight with Vincent Chin. The assailants believed Vincent Chin was of Japanese descent. There was a recession at the time, caused in part by the Japanese auto industry, which was especially tough on Detroit. Ebens and Nitz chased Vincent Chin out of the strip club and beat him to death with a Louisville Slugger. Vincent Chin's last words: It's not fair.

The judge who ruled over the case thought this was nothing more than a barroom brawl and Ebens and Nitz were allowed to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter, paid $3780 in fines, and were sentenced to three years probation. A civil rights case was brought against the two by the federal government but was lost in 1987.

Vincent Chin's mother died last week in a nursing home.