Vincent Who?

OCA, a national Asian Pacific American (APA) organization dedicated to ensuring social justice for Asian Pacific Americans, is pleased to announce the disbursement of five Hate Crime Initiative Conference Grants for 2007. The five chapter awardees are OCA-Detroit, OCA- New York, OCA-Columbus, OCA-Greater Philadelphia, and OCA-Long Island.

Hate crimes, also known as bias crimes, are criminal acts committed against people or property that are motivated by the offender’s bias against a race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability or national origin. In a hate crime, the offender intentionally targets a victim because of their personal characteristics. A hate incident is a non-criminal act where the perpetrator has the same motivations as a hate crime and should be treated as seriously as a criminal act.

OCA is committed to educating the community about what constitutes a hate crime, how to prevent hate crimes, and how to respond if an incident occurs. OCA has been and continues a strong and vocal advocate for all victims of hate crimes.

OCA-Detroit, also known as Association of Chinese Americans and one of OCA’s founding chapters, will hold the Initiative Against Hate Crimes Conference on June 23, 2007, to memorialize the 25th anniversary of the Vincent Chin murder at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights, Michigan.

Founded in 1973 as the Organization of Chinese Americans, OCA, a national organization with over 80 chapters and affiliates across the country, is dedicated to advancing the social, economic, and political well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.

Source: OCA Announces Disbursement of 2007 Allstate Hate Crimes Initiative Conference Grants