1991 Washington, D.C., riot

In May 1991, rioting broke out in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The 1991 Washington, D.C. riot is sometimes referred to as the Mount Pleasant riot.

Background

On Sunday evening, May 5, 1991, during a Cinco de Mayo street celebration, a black female rookie Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department police officer tried to arrest a Salvadoran man for disorderly conduct in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Witnesses disputed whether the drunken man came at her with a hunting knife, but the result was she shot and wounded the man in the chest.

Riot

As word of the shooting spread throughout the largely Hispanic neighborhood, crowds of youths formed and started to attack the police. Hundreds of youths fought running street battles with the police for several hours, late into the night. Many were drawn to the chaos by local TV coverage. Police cars were torched and several stores looted. The District’s mayor, Sharon Pratt Dixon told the police to hold back from making arrests for looting because she feared it would only antagonize the crowd and lead to more violence. District law enforcement officials also had problems massing enough riot police to control the riot because of a lack of communication equipment. These problems led to an uncoordinated response when the rioting first began. Because of this poor initial response, several police officers were left to fend for themselves as the mob attacked them and had to wait to be rescued by other officers. The violence continued until early in the morning, when the crowds began to break up because of rain.

Hoping to avoid a second night of rioting, city officials met with Hispanic community leaders the next day. But the meeting did little to stop the violence. By evening, even with 1,000 riot police on the streets, the rioting started again. Police fought with roving bands of youths, some with bandanas over their faces. The rioters pushed dumpsters into the streets to block traffic, looted and damaged stores, and attacked police vehicles and city transit busses, setting several on fire. The police responded by firing tear gas grenades at the groups of rioting youths and by making arrests. When it was obvious that the disturbance was not going to end, the Mayor declared a State of Emergency and put a curfew into effect. The curfew covered a four square mile area of the city and included not only the Mount Pleasant area but also the surrounding areas of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights.

By Tuesday night, after two nights of rioting, things began to quiet down. The police were out in force and even though there were some reports of rock and bottle throwing, no stores were looted or fires set. Most people in the area stayed in their homes, afraid of being arrested for breaking the curfew. The riot was basically over.

Aftermath

By the time the curfew was finally lifted on May 9, almost 230 people had been arrested, most of them for curfew violations. Fifty people had been injured, mostly police. Over 60 police vehicles had been either destroyed or damaged, along with 21 city transit buses. Nearly three-dozen businesses had been looted or damaged and losses to both city and private property totaled in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Many of the new immigrants to the Mount Pleasant area had come from Central America to avoid the violence there and find work. While there had been some friction between the police and the local community due to language and cultural differences, there had been no major outbreaks of trouble. The Mount Pleasant riot would be a turning point because it would show the rift between the growing Hispanic immigrant population and the mostly African-American city government.

Only 5% of police officers spoke Spanish. This was a frustration when people tried to call 911 to get help or to report a crime. The city agreed to add more bilingual officers and 911 operators and to station more Spanish-speaking officers in heavily Latino areas. They also agreed not to ask witnesses or crime victims about their immigration status, so that more people would come forward to cooperate with authorities to make the community safer.

The Mt. Pleasant Riot would be the largest disturbance to occur in Washington, D.C. since the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of that year.

References

• The Washington Post, various news articles, May 6-12, June 4 and July 12, 1991.
• The Evens, an indie-rock band from Washington D.C., released the song Mt. Pleasant Isn't on their self-titled debut album in 2005.