NAAAP-NC boardmember Andrew Chin (no relation to Vincent Chin), a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, gave some introductory remarks about the case and hate crime legislation. During the documentary, audience members sat with rapt attention, absorbing the historical events surrounding Vincent Chin’s death and how the travesty of justice mobilized community members.

Boardmember and NAAAP-NC Past President Judy Tseng made follow-up remarks after the documentary and led an interactive discussion about the film and events after the film was made. Members discussed more recent crimes in the Triangle area, including the 1989 murder of Jim Ming Hai Loo and the 2002 shooting of N.C. State graduate student Lili Wang. Attorney Hoang Lam revealed that his brother and cousin were present when Loo was hit with a pistol outside a Raleigh pool hall by Robert Piche, who with his brother Lloyd had made racist remarks about the Vietnam war and Asians. Loo died a day later from the injuries. Lam, now an attorney with Prisoner Legal Services in Raleigh, noted that Jim Loo’s mother shied from publicity (unlike Vincent Chin’s mother, who passed away in 2002 after years of speaking across the country about her son) and that his brother and cousin had to testify in court. Unlike the Chin case, Piche was sentenced to prison for the Loo murder.

NAAAP National VP Hector Javier noted that Lili Wang’s husband had been a co-worker of his. Wang, a grad student studying Computer Science, was shot and killed at a tennis court by Richard Anderson, a white Asiaphile who then shot and killed himself. Those in attendance realized how small of a community we truly live in, and that it is important for all of us to be active both politically and socially.

To bring some levity to the somber event, Judy Tseng showed a portion of her 2001 comedy film, “The Metamorphosis,” in which there is an homage to the Vincent Chin case. The group then moved on down Highway 54 to Shiki Sushi for a meal of sushi and Thai food.