Ronald Ebens

Ronald Madis Ebens (born October 30, 1939),[1] with his stepson, Michael Nitz, as an accomplice, murdered Vincent Chin,[2] a Chinese American, on June 19, 1982. This led to a federal indictment for violating Vincent Chin's civil rights, but only after public outrage at the probationary sentence and small fine imposed by Michigan Third Circuit Court Judge Charles Kaufman. This sentence could not be reversed due to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits double jeopardy.

Early life

Ronald Ebens was born on October 30, 1939, in Dixon, Illinois. He served 2 & 1/2 years in Army Air Defense School.[3] On August 25, 1965, Ebens started work at Chrysler Corporation's plant in Belvidere, Illinois,[4] and promoted to salaried trim foreman on November 8, 1965.[4] He married Juanita Ebens in 1971, his second marriage after a brief marriage at the age of 18.[3]

His work with Chrysler brought him to Detroit, Michigan, where he owned a bar, Ron's Place, located on Van Dyke Avenue during the 1970s. In 1982, he was a superintendent at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant.[4]

Vincent Chin

The fight which would lead to the death of Vincent Chin started at The Fancy Pants Club, when Chin took umbrage at a remark that Ebens made to a stripper who had just finished dancing at Chin's table (Chin was having a bachelor party, as he was to be married eight days later). According to an interview by Michael Moore for the Detroit Free Press, Ebens told the stripper, "Don't pay any attention to those little fuckers, they wouldn't know a good dancer if they'd seen one."[3]

Ebens claimed that Chin walked over to Ebens and Michael Nitz and threw a punch at Ebens' jaw without provocation, although witnesses at the ensuing trial testified that Ebens also got up and said, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work,"[5] referring to the Japanese auto industry, particularly Chrysler's increased sales of captively-imported Mitsubishi models rebadged and sold under the Dodge and now-defunct Plymouth brands, and Nitz's layoff from Chrysler in 1979, despite the fact that Chin was Chinese, not Japanese. It is disputed whether Ebens uttered other racial slurs.[1]

The fight escalated as Nitz shoved Chin in defense of his stepfather, and Chin countered. At the end of the scuffle, both Ebens and Nitz were sprawled on the floor, with Nitz suffering a cut on his head from a thrown chair. Chin and his friends left the room, while a bouncer led Ebens and Nitz to the restroom to clean up the wound.

While they were there, Robert Siroskey, one of Chin's friends, came back inside to use the restroom. He apologized for the group, stating that Chin had a few drinks because of his bachelor's party. Ebens and Nitz had also been drinking that night, although not at the club, which did not serve alcohol. Jimmy Choi also reentered the club to look for Siroskey.

When Ebens and Nitz left the club, Chin and his friends were still waiting outside for Siroskey. Chin challenged Ebens and Nitz to continue the fight in the parking lot,[3] at which point Ebens retrieved a baseball bat from Nitz' car and chased Chin and Choi out of the parking lot.

Ebens and Nitz searched the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes and even paid another man 20 dollars to help look for Chin, before finding him at a McDonald's restaurant. Chin tried to escape, but was held by Nitz while Ebens repeatedly bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat. Chin was struck at least four times with the bat, including blows to the head. He fell into a coma and died four days later. Ebens was arrested for the initial assault.[3] After Vincent Chin's death, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz were charged with second-degree murder.

Consequences

Apology

In June 2012 – just before the 30th anniversary of the killing – and in the wake of a prominent retrospective article in the New York Times,[12] Ebens expressed his contrition in a phone interview from his home in Nevada with writer Emil Guillermo, saying killing Chin was "the only wrong thing I ever done in my life.".[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Henry Yee and the Estate of Vincent Chin (deceased) vs. Ronald Ebens, Michael Nitz, and Fancy Pants lounge, 83-309788 CZ (Mich 3rd Cir 1983).
  2. ↑ Article "20 years ago: The Vincent Chin murder – A product of anti-Japanese demagogy" on Spark
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moore, Michael (August 30, 1987). "The Man Who Killed Vincent Chin". Detroit Free Press. Sunday magazine 12–17, 20.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ronald Ebens vs. Chrysler Corporation, 88-810078 CZ (Mich 3rd Cir 1988).
  5. ↑ Article "Remembering Vincent Chin" on AsianWeek
  6. ↑ Helen Zia (2000). Asian American Dreams. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-14774-4.
  7. ↑ US. v. Ebens, 800 F.2d 1422 (U.S. App. 6th Cir. 1986).
  8. 1 2 3 Finkelstein, Jim (November 30, 1989). "The Man Convicted In Chin Case Pledges To Make Good On Debt". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1B.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Paul Dufault, Temporary Person Representative of the Estate of Vincent Jen Chin, Deceased, vs. Ronald M. Ebens, 97-727321-CZ (Mich 3rd Cir 1997).
  10. ↑ 86-05789-G
  11. ↑ Judge Charles Kaufman
  12. ↑ Wu, Frank H. "Why Vincent Chin Matters." The New York Times. June 22, 2012. Retrieved on November 28, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Ronald Ebens, the man who killed Vincent Chin, apologizes 30 years later." Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Retrieved on November 28, 2012.
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