Section 1: Memorialization

Group commemorating victims of anti-Asian violence, June 23, 1992. Photograph. CAAAV Digital Archive

This photograph depicts a candlelight vigil held in Chinatown on the 10th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s death. Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered in commemoration of Chin and other Asian and Asian American victims of racist crimes. Chin, a Chinese American engineer, was brutally murdered by two unemployed auto workers who assumed him to be Japanese—a group they blamed for the decline of the U.S. auto industry. 

Demonstrators held tombstone-shaped signs bearing the names of other victims, including Lin Lin, a Chinese artist taking refuge in NYC who was shot by a passing stranger; Thong Hy Huynh, a Vietnamese American teenager who was fatally stabbed by a classmate in a racially motivated attack; Paul Wu, a Chinese American who was stabbed to death in a confrontation over a traffic incident; and Navroze Mody, an Indian man who was beaten to death by the New Jersey-based hate group, The Dotbusters.

CAAAV designed a memorial ceremony for the vigil, which concluded with the tombstone-shaped signs being laid to rest, allowing community members to say their goodbyes while defiantly bringing attention to these tragedies.

Protest against film Rising Sun in Times Square, July 30, 1993. Photograph. CAAAV Digital Archive

In this image, a mock tombstone bearing the name of Robert Buchanan Jr. rests on the ground in the midst of a crowded protest. Buchanan, a mixed-race Thai American teenager, was murdered by two white supremacist skinheads in downtown Olympia, Washington in the summer of 1992. 

The protest at which this sign appeared took place in Times Square at the premiere of the anticipated Hollywood film Rising Sun. The film was heavily criticized for anti-Asian stereotyping, and CAAAV was one of the dozens of organizations to publicly gather and educate moviegoers about the violent effects of stereotyping. In a crowded protest, this lone tombstone-shaped sign, placed on the ground rather than held aloft, brings us back to reality—racism, no matter how small the infraction, leads to more Asian and Asian American deaths. 

CAAAV actively monitored cases of anti-Asian violence around the country, with the goal of strengthening their organizing efforts. For years, CAAAV kept its membership informed by listing these incidents of assault, harassment, and murder in their seasonal newsletter, The Voice—Buchanan’s death is shared in their fall 1992 issue.

This protest sign bears the image, name, death date, and hometown of Chinese American teenager Yong Xin Hung. On the morning of March 24, 1995, Yong Xin was fatally shot by NYPD officer Steven Mizrahi after police reportedly witnessed the boy playing with a pellet gun at his friend’s home in Sheepshead Bay. In the midst of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s targeted attacks against low-income communities of color via broken windows policing, Huang’s death was just one of many fatal incidents of police brutality in the ’90s. 

The boy’s killer would ultimately not face trial. For years after his death, CAAAV and members of the Huang family organized public memorial gatherings to remember his tragic death. These demonstrations were also acts of resistance in the face of government-sanctioned annihilation and silence; the signs that demonstrators held aloft served to keep Huang alive even after the legal system failed him.

CAAAV continues to take the direct action necessary to mobilize communities affected by racial and economic oppression. Their work with the Huang family ultimately led to the creation of the Racial Justice Committee, a milestone in CAAAV’s efforts to work collectively with communities to fight police brutality.

“On May 23, 1995, a week after the D.A.’s announcement, over 300 people attended a demonstration organized by CAAAV outside of the D.A.’s office. The Huang family and the Asian American community expressed outrage with signs that read, ‘Remember our brother’ and ‘How many more children must die?’”

— The Voice, Vol. 7 No. 2, Fall 1995