A new memoir serves up life lessons from a childhood in a Chinese restaurant

By TERRY TANG
Associated Press

Curtis Chin has been championing other Asian Americans for over 30 years. He co-founded the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. He’s produced documentaries, including one on the racially motivated killing of Vincent Chin in 1983. Now it’s his turn in the spotlight. Curtis Chin has a new memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.” It’s a candid and sometimes funny look at growing up Chinese American in the ’70s and ’80s in Detroit, where his family owned a restaurant. He serves up a menu of anecdotes that touch on racism, gay rights and other social justice issues. But Chin has fond memories of growing up in Detroit and says his is not what he calls a “misery memoir.”