The Vietnamese Fishermen

ENDING KLAN INTIMIDATION

A trial reenactment of the Vietnamese Fishermen's

Association v. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Presented by Fordham APALSA

Featuring the Honorable Denny Chin

Sponsored by Sedgwick

Program of Events

Welcome - Vincent Nguyen

Presentation of Vietnamese Fishermen's Association v. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

The Honorable Denny Chin,

Kathy Hirata Chin,

Professor Thomas Lee,

Professor Ted Neustadt,

APALSA Members

Q & A - The Honorable Denny Chin

Case Details

 - Filed: April 15, 1981, Southern District of Texas

 - Plaintiffs: Vietnamese fishermen who were terrorized by armed members of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

 - Defendants: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.; Louis Beam, Grand Dragon, KKK; various other Klan members; and American Fishermen's Coalition members

In 1981, armed Klansmen cruised Galveston Bay and practiced guerrilla tactics at secret paramilitary camps. They tried to destroy Vietnamese-Americans' fishing businesses by burning their boats and threatening their lives.

Fearful of competition from the Vietnamese, the white fishermen had invited the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, to send a message to the Vietnamese before the start of the shrimping season. The Klan group trained in the use of grenades, explosives, weapons, techniques of ambush and hand- to-hand combat, all in preparation for what they believed was an impending "race war." Klan Grand Dragon Louis Beam held several rallies and cross burnings in the Galveston Bay area. Then, on March 15, armed and hooded Klansmen embarked on "a boat ride" with a figure hung in effigy and a small cannon on board. The boat docked near the home of a Vietnamese man and terrorized his family.

About Judge Chin:

Judge Denny Chin graduated from Princeton University magna cum laude in 1975 and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in 1978. After clerking for the Honorable Henry F. Werker, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, he was associated with the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1980 to 1982.

He served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1982 until 1986, when he and two of his colleagues from the U.S. Attorney's Office started a law firm, Campbell, Patrick & Chin. In 1990, he joined Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., where he specialized in labor and employment law. From September 13, 1994, through April 23, 2010, Judge Chin served as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. On April 26, 2010, Judge Chin was sworn in as United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit. He has presided over a number of notable matters, including cases involving Megan's Law, the Million Youth March, Al Franken's use of the phrase "Fair and Balanced" in the title of a book, the Naked Cowboy, the Google Books Project, and the United Nations Oil for Food Program. He also presided over the trial of an Afghan warlord charged with conspiring to import heroin and the guilty plea and sentencing of financier Bernard L. Madoff.

For more information about the case, visit: https://reenactments.aabany.org/207-2/