1982
6/22: Chinese American draftsman Vincent Chin is killed by a pair of racists wielding a baseball bat. His murderers receive probation and a $3,780 fine.
1984
4/19: Judge June Patel vacates the conviction of Fred Korematsu who challenged the Japanese American evacuation during WWII.
1986
10/10: The launch of AsiAm, the first truly national magazine for Asian Americans.
1987
7/1: First Ivy League Asian American Studies program established at Cornell U, with a budget of $100,000 and staff of 3.
10/16: 3-day conference “Target ’88” begins 1st national convention of Asian American Democrats.
1988
8/10: Japanese Americans win the redress and reparations for the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. President Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act, authorizing $125 billion in reparations payments.
1989
4/25: After 2 years of debate the Berkeley faculty votes 227-194 for “American Cultures” requirement, for students to take courses dealing with at least 3 ethnic groups.
1989
6/22: By defeating Swede Stefan Edberg in a grueling 5-set finals match, 17-year-old Michael Chang becomes the first American male in 34 years to win the French Open.
1992
2/21: Kristi Yamaguchi, at 5-foot, 100-pounds, outskates Japan’s formidable Midori Ito to become the first American woman to win Olympic gold in figure skating since Dorothy Hamill in 1976.
1992
4/29: 2,300 small Koreatown businesses are destroyed during the L.A. riots.
5/1: Asian/Pacific American Labor Alliance founded in Washington, DC. The 500 unionists formed the first national Asian/Pacific American, a subgroup of the AFL-CIO.
1993
6/8: After a 36-day hunger strike in May, Asian American students at UC finally get the administration to agree to establish an Asian American studies program.
1994
1/14: Pitcher Chanho Park is signed by the Dodgers, becoming the first Asian player — and the first Dodger since Sandy Koufax — to be drafted directly into the majors. After a shakey first two years Park went on to become the Dodgers’s number one starting pitcher and one of the top pitchers in American baseball.
1994
6/11: The AA community in Orange County, Ca organizes against the police mug book of Asian youths merely on the suspicion of associating with gangs. Of 716 photographed in Westminster, Ca, 72% were Asian and 2% Hispanics, while Westminster was 69.8% White by population.
1995
4/25: In NYC Asian Americans help to organize a citywide demonstration, occupying bridges during rush hour to protest police brutality.
1998
11/3: Republican Matt Fong, former State Treasurer and son of longtime California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, loses a hard-fought senate race against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer who outspent Fong 2-1 and enjoyed a big edge among women voters. This is the first time a Chinese American runs for the U.S. Senate in a mainland race.
1999
3/15: Taiwan-born Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist Wen Ho Lee, 59, is fired for allegedly downloading highly-classified data from a mainframe into his desktop PC. Lee had been secretly investigated by the Department of Energy and the FBI as a possible spy for China but no spying charges are filed because the investigation failed to produce conclusive evidence. On December 10, Lee is arraigned on 59 counts of mishandling classified data. Asian American groups fear Lee is being singled out on the basis of ancestry.
