Rebuilding the Community Post-Katrina: Panel Discussion

Moderated by Linda Vo, Ph.D.

Panelists: S. Leo Chiang (Producer and Director), Loan Dao (Ph.D. candidate of Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley), T. Linh Ho, Mai Dang (Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation), John Nguyen (Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans - VAYLA-NO), Tony Nguyen (VAYLA-NO)

SATURDAY, April 11th

4:15pm-5:45pm

Humanities Instructional Building

(HIB) 100, UC Irvine

Hurricane Katrina devastated Versailles, a thriving Vietnamese American community in New Orleans East. However, having been refugees before, Vietnamese American residents quickly returned post-Katrina and painstakingly rebuilt their neighborhood and their community. However, without consulting community members, the local government began building a toxic landfill just two miles away from Versailles. The community worked together to create effective alliances, especially by bringing together first, 1.5, and second generation Vietnamese Americans and their allies, to fight against environment racism and save their community. Representatives from groups that organized this coalition of resistance as well as those involved with making the documentary, A Village Called Versailles, which depicts their inspiring and moving story, are part of the panel. We can all learn crucial lessons from their experiences about how to overcome internal differences and strategically work together to improve Vietnamese American communities.