DCentric » Mount Pleasant riots http://dcentric.wamu.org Race, Class, The District. Wed, 16 May 2012 20:20:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Copyright © WAMU In Photos: Mount Pleasant 20 Years After the Riots http://dcentric.wamu.org/2011/05/in-photos-mount-pleasant-20-years-after-the-riots/ http://dcentric.wamu.org/2011/05/in-photos-mount-pleasant-20-years-after-the-riots/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 17:41:47 +0000 Elahe Izadi http://dcentric.wamu.org/?p=6561 Continue reading →]]> The Mount Pleasant riots began on May 5, 1991 after a police officer shot a Salvadoran immigrant. Last week’s Metro Connection took a look at what happened during those two tumultuous days, and today’s Kojo Nnamdi show featured a discussion around the legacy of the riots for D.C.’s Latino community.

The riots, which also spilled over into Columbia Heights, left a lasting mark a neighborhood that has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. We take a look at Mount Pleasant today:

Mount Pleasant was the epicenter of riots that began on May 5, 1991, in response to a police shooting of a Latino man. The neighborhood is now a quaint enclave in Northwest. An influx of immigrants fleeing El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s and 1990s settled in Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights. Here, a woman shows her Salvadoran pride during the 2008 Fiesta DC festival in Mount Pleasant. Jose Quevas, owner of Distribuidora El Salvador Del Mundo, has been on Mount Pleasant Street for 23 years. He said there are more businesses on the street than two decades ago, “and now with the Metro, it brings more people here.” The Columbia Heights Metro Station opened in 1999, which helped change the landscape of the entire area. Big retailers and luxury apartment complexes soon followed. Walter Martinez has been living in Mount Pleasant for more than 35 years. He’s seen the neighborhood change from predominately black to being mostly Latino in the 1990s. He said the Metro station and Columbia Heights development helped spur an influx of white residents. “That’s how this got to be a more expensive place to live. Before, our apartment, a 2-bedroom, was $300 [a month]. Now, it’s $1,300.” DC USA opened in 2008 in nearby Columbia Heights. National retailers filled the mall, including Target, Best Buy and Marshalls. Mount Pleasant Street now has a mix of new and older businesses. Alex Kramer opened Dos Gringos on Mount Pleasant Street 10 years ago. She named her restaurant as a nod to the fact that she and her then-business partner were opening up in a predominately Latino neighborhood “I didn’t want to come into a neighborhood and change it," she says. Kramer works with fellow business owners and helps organize a language exchange in the neighborhood. “The customers, it’s definitely a mix. On Saturdays and Sundays, it’s more of the newer people in the neighborhood. But during the workweek, we sell $1 cups of coffee outside” which attracts a variety of customers, she says. A woman sells tropical fruits at this produce stand that’s been in Mount Pleasant since 1994. Owner Ignacio Nunez (not pictured) says back then “there was a lot of disorder. When we would get here in the morning, they’d say, ‘last night someone was shot on that corner.’ Not anymore.” Ignacio Nunez (right) talks with Walter Martinez (left) about the changes the neighborhood has seen in the past couple of decades. Nunez says there are still a lot of Latinos in the neighborhood. “But before, nobody wanted to live here, the only ones who lived here had to. Now, everyone in the world wants to live here.” ]]> http://dcentric.wamu.org/2011/05/in-photos-mount-pleasant-20-years-after-the-riots/feed/ 1