- Background
- Vincent Chin was a Chinese American young man who became a victim of a hate crime committed by two white men on June 19th, 1982 in Detroit. The case has been viewed as a critical turning point for Asian-American civil rights movement and a rallying cry for stronger federal hate crime legislation.
- As we approach the 38th anniversary of Vincent’s death, Asian Americans are experiencing a new wave of hate crimes as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, a Burmese family in Midland, Texas, was attacked in a local Sam’s Club store, because they were mistaken as Chinese immigrants, a case that bears high similarity to that of Vincent Chin’s.
- America has been torn by tragedies caused by racism, as evident by the recent incident of killing of George Floyd, whose death has generated national outcry and protests. Such events continuously remind us that to fight systematic racism, we have to stand together and unite all people of all colors.
- Announcement of UCA Student Scholarship Award for summer 2020 under the title of “From Vincent Chin to George Floyd”
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- To recognize individuals who risk their lives to save the victims of anti-Asian hate crime, UCA is launching a public award ceremony and an online event in memory of Vincent Chin and George Floyd on June 22nd. Simultaneously, UCA is announcing a student scholarship to be awarded to Chinese American students who are actively engaged in fighting against racism and hate crimes, and propel the progress towards civil rights protection and racial justice.
3. Scholarship details:
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- An award in the amount of $1000 to a high school student led project and an award in the amount of $1000 to a college student led project;
- The winners will be invited to a UCA national forum to discuss their work, present their essays and materials;
- Content of their projects including the essays, media, and presentations will be promoted on UCA website and social media channels
4. Timeline
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- Projects will need to commence on June 22nd, 2020 (UCA public events), and last throughout summer 2020; The scholarship application must be submitted by 11:59 PM August 31st, 2020;
- The winners will be announced by September 22nd, 2020;
- No application will be accepted past the above-stated deadline.
5. Scholarship Application Requirements
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- Completion of the scholarship application form;
- Completion of the scholarship essay in English (1200 words maximum, plagiarism is not allowed);
- Submission of the completed project materials (see below);
- Completion of the required study materials, included in the recommendations are,
- The Chinese in America by Irish Chang
- Asian Americans, a PBS documentary series (2020)
- Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, PBS
- The Chinese Exclusion Act, PBS
- Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1988), a documentary by Renee Tajima and Christine Choy.
- Vincent Who? (2009), a documentary written and produced by Curtis Chin and directed by Tony Lam.
- The Asian American Achievement Paradox. Lee, Jennifer, and Min Zhou. Russell Sage Foundation, 2015.
- Myth of the model minority: Asian Americans facing racism. Chou, Rosalind S., and Joe R. Feagin. Routledge, 2015.
- Other materials students and mentors will identify
6. Project Requirements
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- High school student team may include any number of high school students, but no more than 10 students maximum; The same applies to college student team;
- The racial identity of the students need to be Chinese origin or one of the parents of the student must be Chinese origin; If a student team is involved, a majority (>= 1/2) of the students need to be Chinese-origin;
- Each student or student team can only submit one application, with each application containing one project;
- Students or student team will come up with a design of the project, with the aims and outcome of improving racial justice, reducing hate crime and racial conflicts, promoting cross-cultural interaction and understanding, and any combination of the above goals;
- Students are encouraged to interact with other racial groups in their schools and communities in the project design;
- Students are encouraged to work with mentors such as their teachers or community leaders in designing and completion of the project; If mentors are involved in the project, such efforts need to be documented and presented in the application;
- Students or student team will document the project design, with arms of specific aims, methods, results, intended impact, etc;
- Students or student team will document the project progress and outcome;
- Students or student team will complete essay(s) based on the experiences and perspectives gained through the project; essay(s) can be written by either the entire team or individual students; each student team may submit multiple essays; essays will be in English, no more than 1200 words maximum;
- In the scholarship application, students or student team will submit the essay(s), design of the project, results of the project, supporting documents that include media, publications, testimonies, original artworks, and anything that can substantiate the content and outcome of the project.
7. Award of scholarship
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- A panel of UCA judges will evaluate the scholarship application;
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- Judges will review all submitted materials, collectively rate the selected finalists, then identify the winners based on authenticity, originality, project design, social impact, and content of the materials submitted;
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- Award of scholarship will be announced by Sep 22nd, 2020. One award of $1000 will be given to a high school student led project, and one award of $1000 will be given to a college student led project;
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- Student essays and project contents will be promoted and presented by students and teams in a UCA national forum; The materials will be published on UCA website and social media channels;
For inquiries and contact: please email UCA board members, Helen Shih, or Jinliang Cai, helenshihuca@gmail.com, jlcai@yahoo.com