On June 19, 1982, during a climate of anti-Asian hate brought on by the recession and the collapse of the American auto industry, a Chinese American named Vincent Chin was killed in Detroit because he looked Japanese. When Vincent Chin’s killers were given probation, Asian Americans across the country came together in a national civil rights movement. This movement contributed to the passing of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which eventually expanded the notion of who is protected by federal civil rights law, and the idea that all people in America should be protected against hate violence.
Fred Korematsu - Civil Rights Activist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1998) - is best known for resisting the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1942, a 23-year-old Korematsu was arrested for refusing to relocate to a Japanese prison camp. In the Supreme Court case, Korematsu v. United States, his attorneys argued that Executive Order 9066 violated the Fifth Amendment. Korematsu ultimately lost the case. However, in 2011 California honored Korematsu with the designation of Fred Korematsu Day, celebrated annually on January 30th. This marked the first U.S. holiday named for an Asian American.
Sabeer Bhatia migrated to the U.S. from India at the age of 19 with $250 in his pockets. He eventually co-founded Hotmail, a free e-mailing platform that was later bought by Microsoft for $400 million. His education provided him a platform to succeed, with a BS from Caltech and MS from Stanford. This led Sabeer to become a hardware engineer at Apple. While Bhatia no longer has any association with Hotmail, he uses his knowledge of engineering and business insights to help individuals tap into their strengths and fulfill their lifelong dreams of becoming entrepreneurs.
Apoorva Mehta is the founder of the U.S.-based grocery startup, Instacart, which grew dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. As per reports, the company has raised funds at a valuation of $39 billion in its latest financing round. Mehta started the grocery firm in 2012 and is now one of the world’s most recent billionaires. Born in India, Mehta was raised in Canada and is a graduate from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Mehta had previously worked with Qualcomm and Amazon as well.