Q&A: Professor reflects on role of documentaries in guarding civil rights
UCLA Asian American studies professor Renee Tajima-Peña helped direct the documentary film “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” about the 1982 murder of a Chinese man who was beaten to death by two white men. (Courtesy of Claudio Rocha)
By Olivia Mazzucato
March 12, 2017 8:59 p.m.
A UCLA professor’s documentary turned 30 years old this year, but its plot bears eerie parallels to the hate crimes of today.
Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian American studies, helped direct “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” which documents the murder of Chin, a Chinese man beaten to death by two white autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz in Detroit in June 1982 .
The government and justice system chose not to treat the murder as a hate crime. However, Ebens allegedly blamed Chin for the loss of American auto manufacturing jobs to Japan, mistakenly identifying Chin as Japanese. The two accepted a plea bargain and served no jail time.
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The film shares similarities to modern-day incidents of misdirected prejudice – like the Feb. 22 Kansas shooting of two Indian men mistaken for Iranians or the March 3 Washington shooting of a Sikh man who was told to go back to his country, Tajima-Peña said.
Tajima-Peña is currently screening the documentary across the country, from Franklin & Marshall College on March 24 to the Indiana University Bloomington on April 1.
The Daily Bruin’s Olivia Mazzucato spoke with Tajima-Peña about the modern-day significance of the film, her current documentary-short series and the role of documentary in the current political landscape.
Daily Bruin: What was the process of making “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
Renee Tajima-Peña: When I first started, I thought of making a 15-minute advocacy video … I went (to Detroit) for three months just to do research and I started talking to people and I realized “Oh this is really a bigger story because of those shades of grey.” …
It’s incontrovertible who killed Vincent Chin: Ron Ebens wielded the bat. But what was going on in (Eben’s) head? Were they just having a barroom brawl and he just died? Or was it a hate crime?
DB: What similarities do you see between the documentary and recent events in the United States?
RTP: These kinds of encounters between people that turn violent, I think there are always a lot of factors. And quite often race is one factor. Sometimes, it’s the triggering factor, sometimes it’s the factor that delivers the final blow. But I think we have to consider race, because if we are going to be a multiracial country, we have to figure out why these collisions happen between people and what we can do to prevent this …
Certain groups have become targeted. In the 1980s, when Chin was killed, Asian-Americans were disproportionately targeted for hate crimes … Now, Muslims and people who are South Asian and Middle Eastern are being targeted.
DB: How have racial dynamics in the U.S. evolved since the film’s creation?
RTP: A few years ago, I think I was more optimistic …
From the President (Donald Trump) there’s such a divisive, inflammatory tone that I think a lot of people have been emboldened to express their hate in violent ways. I have to say, I haven’t seen it this bad in many years … We used to think certain places were dangerous, but things are happening in cities and suburbs and rural areas … It’s really frightening.
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DB: Does it surprise you that the themes of this film are still relevant in our society?
RTP: No, because it’s been consistent over this time. And there are certain periods unfortunately where it becomes more relevant than other periods … I’m showing (the film) a lot this spring because I think people look at it as being an American story of these racial divides and what can happen and how people work through it. I think that’s part of the story too, how Asian-Americans came together and really organized for justice for Chin.
DB: Are you working on any new projects?
RTP: (I’m part of) a group of Japanese-American artists and filmmakers and media artists … We realized because of all the rhetoric around the Islamophobia and hatred toward immigrants, the Japanese-American story was so relevant – the Japanese story of the incarceration during World War II, the evacuation, our immigration story – (so we) decided to create these short videos, like rapid response videos (on Facebook and Vimeo), that can use our story to respond to what’s happening today.
DB: How do you foresee documentary filmmaking working as a tool going forward in the fight for civil rights?
RTP: It’s taken on a really important role because of the attack on the press, the attack on journalism, the attack on facts. And documentary is a way of not only investigating and being informative, but telling people’s stories, portraying the lived experience of issues and histories. So I think in this new environment where journalism is being challenged, documentary plays a role in bolstering the fourth estate.
