A Village Called Versailles

A small community just outside of New Orleans, Versailles, is home to nearly 8,000 Vietnamese residents. After Hurricane Katrina wiped out their homes in 2005, they quickly worked to rebuild their homes and their lives.

After struggling to get back on their feet, with little help from the government, they soon became threatened by a new danger, a toxic landfill was slated to be built just two miles from their village. The residents came together to protest and fight back, protecting their community and raising their voices loud enough for people to hear them for the first time.

For more information on the film go to the PBS Independent Lens website.

Interested?

• More YES Film Picks from the Fall 2010 issue, A Resilient Community.
  
• Trouble the Water Film Trailer:
  Unable to afford fleeing her 9th Ward home, a resident decides to document Hurricane Katrina on her camcorder. 
• 10 Courageous Things You Can Do To Build a Community:
  We can speed up the realization of good community building ideas if we live our lives consistent with community priorities.
  
  

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. kbailey. (2010, July 27). A Village Called Versailles. Retrieved February 12, 2012, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-village-called-versailles. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License