Death on the Fourth of July : the story of a killing, a trial, and hate crime in modern America

n July 4, 2000, three young Asian-American men from Seattle took a road trip to the resort town of Ocean Shores, Washington. At a gas station mini-mart, they encoun-tered sev-eral white skinheads, who started menacing them by shouting racial epithets. Trapped in the mini-mart, the five-foot-six, 125 pound Minh Hong grabbed two paring knives and stuffed them into his jacket pocket. Returning to their car, Hong's group found a 200 pound, twenty-year-old skinhead named Christopher Kinison blocking their way, holding a Confeder-ate flag. The ensuing melee left Kinison fatally stabbed, and six months later, Hong stood on trial for murder. During the proceedings, Hong was asked why he had fought so hard. He replied, 'I just knew I didn't want to end up like that guy in Texas,' referring to James Byrd, the black man dragged to his death by white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, in 1998. David Neiwert uses Hong's case to explore the myths sur-round-ing hate crimes, delineating what is and is not a 'hate crime,' and reveals the patchwork nature of federal and state hate-crime laws and their enforcement.

a Veteran Reporter In The Us Pacific Northwest, Neiwert Tells Of A Conflict In 2000 Between A Group Of Racist Skinheads And A Group Of Vietnamese Americans In Ocean Shores, Washington That Led To A Death, And The Trial And Its Media Coverage And Effects. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or

publishers Weekly

on July 4, 2000, Minh Hong And His Twin Brother, Hung, Arrived In Ocean Shores, Wash., To Celebrate The Holiday. When They Stopped At A Convenience Store To Buy Fireworks, They Were Met By A Group Of Drunken Young White Men-who Resembled Skinheads-yelling Racial Slurs. A Fight Erupted, Leaving The Leader Of The Group Of White Men, Chris Kinison, Dead. Minh Hong Was Charged With Manslaughter For Killing Kinison, And Suddenly The Victim Of A Hate Crime Became The Suspect In A Criminal Trial. Freelance Journalist Neiwert, Who Became Acquainted With The Hong Family Through Eating At Their Teriyaki Shop In Seattle, Provides A Fast-paced Account Of The Events Surrounding This Altercation And Hong's Trial. The Circumstances Surrounding The Events Of That Day Divided The Town, Uncovering Racist Feelings Below The Thin Veneer Of Smalltown Sociability. Neiwert Weaves Chapters Regarding The Legal Aspects Of Hate Crimes, The Myths Of Hate Crimes And The Details Of Other Well-known, And Less-known, Crimes, Such As The Killing Of Matthew Shepard, Into His Narrative About The Hong Case. Although The Book Often Devolves Into A Pseudosociological Treatise In These Chapters, Neiwert Is At His Best In Reporting On The Details Of The Trial, The Feelings Of The Families And The Disruption Of The Community. (july) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

On July 4, 2000, three young Asian American men visiting the small town of Ocean Shores, Washington, were attacked by a group of skinheads in the parking lot of a Texaco station. Threats and slurs gave way to violence and, ultimately, a fatal stabbing. But this tragedy culminated with a twist. A young white man, flaunting a Confederate flag just moments before, was slain by one of his would-be victims. In the ensuing murder trial, a harsh lesson on what it really means to be an American unfolded, exposing the layers of distrust between minorities and whites in rural America and revealing the dirty little secret that haunts many small towns: hate crime. In" Death on the Fourth of July," veteran journalist David Neiwert explores the hard questions about hate crimes that few are willing to engage. He shares the stories behind the Ocean Shores case through first-hand interviews, and weaves them through an expert examination of the myths, legal issues, and history surrounding these controversial crimes. "Death on the Fourth of July" provides the most clear-headed and rational thinking on this loaded issue yet published, all within the context of one compelling real-life tragedy "Death on the Fourth of July examines the phenomenon of hate crime in America through the lens of a singular case in a small beach town in Washington State, when the would-be victims of a racist assault turned the confrontation's expected outcome on its head. One young Asian American man fought off his white skinhead tormentor with a shoplifted paring knife, fatally wounding him. Detailing the criminal trial that followed the incident, the book expands into a broader discussion of hate crimes in America: their history from the era of lynching to the present, the patchwork nature of state and federal laws against them, and the inconsistent enforcement of such laws. David A. Nelwert, an expert on white supremacist movements, has crafted a comprehensive treatment of this subject, shedding light on how hate crimes impact the nation's fragile cultural and racial climate."--BOOK JACKET. Describes the racially driven confrontation between three young Asian-Americans and a group of white skinheads in Ocean Shores, Washington, which resulted in the death of Christopher Kinison and the murder trial of Minh Hong, in a study that defines the parameters of hate crimes and discusses their pertinent laws. 10,000 first printing.