6/1/09

The State Bar's 34th Michigan Legal Milestone dedication entitled "From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry" is set for Friday, June 19 at 11 a.m. at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights. The center is located at 32585 Concord Drive, south of 14 Mile Road.

The ceremony will commemorate the Vincent Chin case and reflect on its significance in our legal history. Chin's beating death in 1982 in Highland Park and the lenient sentences meted out to his assailants caused an outcry in the Asian American community and led to the birth of a civil and victims' rights movement.

A bronze plaque memorializing what occurred will be unveiled at the end of the ceremony. The plaque will be installed in Ferndale. State Bar President Ed Pappas and SBM Executive Director Janet Welch will share the duties of master of ceremonies. Speakers are:

• L. G. Almeda, past president of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Bar Association and current president of American Citizens for Justice;
• Roland Hwang, Michigan assistant attorney general, immediate past president of American Citizens for Justice, and past president of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Bar Association;
• Robert Sedler, Wayne State University Law School distinguished professor of law;
• Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, executive director of American Citizens for Justice and editor of Asian American Village at IMDiversity.com; and
• Frank H. Wu, University of Maryland professor of law, who will appear via video link from Beijing.

The Michigan Legal Milestone program is overseen by the State Bar of Michigan Public Outreach Committee chaired by Jeffrey Paulsen.

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