China News Service, June 17. According to a comprehensive report by the Chinese website of the United States, at a time when discrimination and attacks against Asian Americans continue to occur in the United States, Detroit is commemorating the Chinese American Vincent Chen, who was beaten to death by two white men with a baseball bat 40 years ago. Chin), pledging that the city is committed to combating such violence.

　　The City of Detroit, in partnership with the "Chen Guoren 40th Anniversary Coalition," kicked off a four-day commemorative event on Thursday (16th), which will feature discussions and documentaries.

　　"Although hate crimes exist, the case of Chen Guoren has really ignited the anger of Asian Americans," said Mark Mark, a senior attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

　　On June 19, 1982, Chen Guoren, an engineer at a car factory, got into an argument with two white men while attending a bachelorette party at a club in Detroit's Highland Park.

The two have a father-son relationship and are employees of a car factory.

At that time, the Japanese auto industry had a serious impact on the domestic auto industry in the United States, so the unemployed auto workers had a deep hatred of Japanese people. The two mistakenly thought that Chen Guoren was of Japanese descent, and blamed him for the layoff of the auto factory.

　　It is reported that after Chen Guoren left the club, the two men followed him to a fast food restaurant and beat Chen Guoren to death with a hockey stick.

Since then, although the two suspects were arrested and charged, the court only sentenced them to three years of probation and a fine of 3,700 yuan.

"These people are not going to go out and do harm," Judge Kaufman explained at the time. "The punishment is not to be commensurate with the crime, but to be appropriate for the criminal."

　　The verdict caused great dissatisfaction among the Asian American community across the United States, sparked nationwide protests, and the case is also seen as a key turning point in Asian American participation in the civil rights movement.

　　On the 40th anniversary of Chen Guoren's death, attacks against Asian-Pacific Americans in the United States are on the rise.

"The recent anti-Asian violence due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic and anti-China rhetoric is related to geopolitics. They demonize China in their rhetoric," Mark said.

　　According to research and advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate, from March 19, 2020, to the end of last year, AAPIs self-reported 10,905 incidents ranging from verbal insults to outright assaults.

　　The Justice Department reported that more than 8,000 single bias incidents across the U.S. involved 11,126 victims in 2020, up from 7,103 the year before.

Bias about race, ethnicity, and ancestry was behind nearly 62 percent of incidents.