For 10 years in the 1970s, the South Bronx area of New York City literally smoldered. An arson epidemic, compounded by government negligence, razed four-fifths of its homes and apartments and displaced half a million residents. Not only were once-proud, melting-pot neighborhoods being destroyed, the rest of the city and country seemed not to care.

Filmmaker and Bronx resident Vivian Vazquez explores the tragedy—and the resoluteness of its victims—in the 2019 documentary Decade of Fire. It tells the story of a people who held on, working to save their community and start anew against impossible odds.

A discussion follows. Co-presented by KCPT- Kansas City PBS.