This story was produced in partnership with Canopy Atlanta, a community-powered nonprofit newsroom. This story’s topic was informed by feedback from more than 120 Forest Park residents and was reported in collaboration with a Canopy Forest Park Fellow, community members whom Canopy Atlanta trained in reporting skills.
The parking lot surrounding the Vietnamese Elder Association South Atlanta fills up on Saturday afternoons. This particular July afternoon is a hot one in Forest Park. The sound of music, muffled by fans, travels through the building’s open front door.
Inside, men and women in their 50s and up take turns on stage, singing and dancing along to decades-old Vietnamese music. They stand in front of a wall-sized collage of heroic-looking images of the Vietnam War, with fighter planes, a military ship, and a smiling Vietnamese couple in uniform at the center. At banquet tables before the stage, a hundred or so people watch, looking just as happy, as they laugh with each other and beam at the performances.
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