As the Bolsavik has mentioned in this space before, shown today at ViFF, before the Dustin Nguyen spotlight, is a special sneak preview of A Village Called Versailles.
Directed by Leo Chiang, the 75-minute documentary follows the rebuilding and transformation of the area named Versailles in East New Orleans, where almost all the residents are Vietnamese.
In particular, the film documents how the local Vietnamese community, led by Catholic priest Vien The Nguyen, successfully fought the city’s plan to locate a landfill right next to the community.
Screening is at 3pm, at UC Irvine, room HIB 100. Following the screening will be a panel discussion on the rebuilding of the community in Louisiana after Katrina.
Appearing on the panel will be Bishop Mai Thanh Lương, auxillary bishop of Orange County. Bishop Mai was the founder of the Versailles village.
Also among the people on the panel will be Derrick H. Nguyen, better known by his Vietnamese name Nguyễn Hoàng Dũng. As a member of the White House Initiative on Asian-Pacific Americans during the Bush administration, Nguyen was intimately involved with efforts to help reconstruction of the areas devastated by the hurricane.
“….the film documents how the local Vietnamese community…..successfully fought the city’s plan to locate a landfill right next to the community.”
Successfully. Good for them. Good to know its over and they were successful.
Too bad New Orleans is such a craphole (sorry, just being honest)….. but people have got to live somewhere. And real estate there is dirt, dirt cheap (hmmmm….. I wonder why).
Hopefully this film will be posted online free somewhere (b/c that’s the only way I would watch these movies).
I am sure this Versaille village is very much like the Versailles near Paris, only that this one in New Orleans has a more active church LOL
I wonder if using small children in a protest should be considered a form of child abuse?
Tien, what are you thinking?
Our kids are allowed to openly express feelings about their neighborhood/playgrounds becoming a landfill.
For learning purpose, children should be allowed to express freely their thoughts on any issues in a school setting. However, for children to do the protest outside on the streets, I am not certain if that is appropriate.
In the past, they have used children to protest gay marriage, abortion and sometimes Vietnam’s business leaders. I guess our children have grown up fast LOL
Tien, you need to add school setting with kid’s neighbor concerns as well. Most children would not want to sleep next to a garbage dump.
The kids’ parents should act (protest, petition, etc.) for the kids’ interest, not the kids acting for their parents’ interest.
Tien, a landfill affects children directly( health, safety)….. not only their parents!
The landfill affects the children’s health much more serious than the parents. But their parents and teachers and religious leaders must act on their behalves. (While the adults do the protest on the streets, the children should have fun in their classrooms or child care centers.) Besides, as a matter of precaution, if children are used to fight for a good cause now, they might be used to fight for other not-so-good causes in the future. So, prudent people would rather err on the safe side, that is to say, no children should be used for any fights, be it a health issue, or a religious issue, or a human rights issue, or even a children issue.
Tien, I don’t believe you can tell parents how to raise their children…whether their kids will become a follower or leader in the community.
Let them worry about their own future since this is not a socialist state.
coming from an idiot who was raised in a racist family. racists usually always teach their kids to be racist. it’s something that is learned. jung kim you werent born a racist too bad your parents raised you to be such a miserable pig.
jose licka solorio, raise from a fertilizer quality blood line…you have learned yourself a new word “racist”.
Is this all you got inside of your fermenting soy bean cavity formed by your unknown gene wasters over forceful one night stand?
jose,
please stop being such a fucking idiot.
if you’re name is really jose, then you are just another hispanic guy who loves to pick fights with asian people online (i’ve run into a lot of hispanic male assholes like that online).
of course, i know what youre going to do next jose. you are going to post an inflammatory (do you know what that word means????) response trying to draw me into an argument. that’s your M.O.
but i won’t respond b/c i don’t give a shit what you think…. you’re an annoying little bugger.
xu, if you have read this blog at all you would know that yes, my name is jose sanchez that is why i go by “jose s.” and i dont have any shame or embarassment for the name i have (my real name) unlike you and jung kim (not his real name either) have. you wonder if jose is my real name well thats wrong on your part to begin with, and you secondly claim you have met many “hispanic” guys like me online who like to pick fights with “asian people”, so xu, have you ever called me a beaner? that would make you a racist right? have you ever called me a cholo? well the idiot communist homophobic racist pig jung kim has and you seem to be taking his side for some strange reason even though he hopefully stands for everything you dont want to be right? because he’s a pig and a filthy communist and hopefully you wont end up like that. you see, there is a cancer in our community and i call it “our” community because it belongs to all of us and that means even “hispanics” like me. “hispanics” who were born and raised here in “little saigon” who want our communities free of communist filth who think it’s ok to try to shut down newspapers. and if you side with jung kim it means you not only hate your country but you side with communist filth. bravo xu! maybe someday you’ll be man enough to reveal your real name.
jose licka solorio butt, hey anti viet community idiot, leave other bloggers alone!
All you can chant is someone being a communist or racist without any validity to your claim.
Democracy in action!
Tien,
Those kids should be there, on top of the young teenagers who were there at those protest sessions. That’s because if we didnt do something then, it would affect the future of these young kids. As one of the elders put it: “They arent just putting the trash on me, but they are putting it on the next generation to come.”
Bastards.
As for racist comments concerning beaners and such. After Katrina, there has been a steady influx of hispanics coming into the neighborhood so the landfill does not just affect asians but blacks and hispanics.
Thuy, I agree.