The Mount Pleasant riot is categorized as an urban
commodity riot in which members of a lower socio-
economic urban group riot against property owners
and symbols of public authority, represented by the
police. On May 5, 1991, during a Cinco de Mayo
neighborhood festival, an African American English-
speaking female police officer attempted to arrest a
Spanish-speaking male for drinking alcohol in pub-
lic. The police officer initially stated that the male sus-
pect threatened her with a knife. The officer shot the
man in the chest. She later stated she thought the
male suspect had a knife in his possession.
The crowds of Hispanics celebrating in the streets
of Mount Pleasant heard about the shooting and
quickly turned violent against other police on duty
at the festival. Widespread communications equip-
ment failures among members of the metropolitan
police force, lack of specific information about what
actually happened, no Spanish-speaking officers
available to respond quickly, and an overall lack of
coordinated police response contributed to an esca-
lation of the violence. Few additional police officers
were deployed to the neighborhood, and some po-
lice cars and neighborhood stores were damaged.
Rain in the early hours of the morning helped break
up crowds of angry Hispanic young men in the
streets.
Washington, D.C., mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly met
with Hispanic community leaders on May 6 to ask
them to help restore order. By nightfall, however,
the metropolitan police force had deployed more
than one thousand police in riot gear in the four-
square-mile Mount Pleasant area. This heavy police
presence infuriated the Mount Pleasant residents.
Local news stations carried extensive coverage of the
disturbance. The news coverage attracted a number
of young men from outside the Mount Pleasant
neighborhood who simply wanted to participate in
the disturbance and fight with the police. Larger-
scale rioting and property damage ensued. Mayor
Kelly declared a state of emergency not only in
Mount Pleasant but also in the surrounding neigh-
borhoods of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights,
which was not lifted until May 9, 1991. This curfew
upset many of the residents of the wealthier neigh-
borhood of Columbia Heights. The vast majority of
residents stayed inside after the mayor declared the
state of emergency. Small groups of young men con-
tinued to engage the police and threw rocks and bot-
tles at them, but little additional property was dam-
aged. The statistics are significant: 230 people were
arrested for curfew violations and looting; 50 police
officers were injured; 60 police cars and at least 20
city buses were damaged or burned. Property dam-
age totaled several hundred thousand dollars.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated
police conduct during the Mount Pleasant riot. In its
1993 report, the commission found the metropoli-
tan police department guilty of widespread police
misconduct both leading up to and during the dis-
turbance, including the use of racist language
against Hispanics, excessive force, harassment of
Hispanics for possible immigration violations, and a
failure to investigate previous charges of police mis-
conduct against Hispanic members of the commu-
nity.
Mayor Kelly accepted the commission’s findings.
She acknowledged that members of the Hispanic
community had long-standing, legitimate com-
plaints against the metropolitan police force, in-
cluding repeated police failures to respond to emer-
gency calls in Spanish. The police force immediately
began efforts to recruit bilingual Spanish-English
candidates for police officers and emergency dis-
patchers. To help regain the trust of the Hispanic
community, the police further agreed to cease ask-
ing any questions regarding a person’s immigration
status. The police force agreed to place as many
Spanish-speaking officers as possible in predomi-
nantly Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and to in-
stitute a type of community policing that deployed
the same officers in the same areas so both police of-
ficers and community residents could get to know
one another.
Mayor Kelly disputed the accusation that the po-
lice acted in a heavy-handed manner in Mount Pleas-
ant at the request of newer and wealthier residents.
The accusation was that these newer residents
wanted the police to get tough on groups of His-
panic men who were causing problems such as litter-
ing and public consumption of alcohol.Impact As a result of police behavior during the
Mount Pleasant riot, the U.S. Department of Justice
took over investigations of metropolitan police mis-
conduct as the police force itself was deemed unable
to conduct impartial investigations. Mayor Kelly was
criticized for hesitating in her response to the first
night of disturbances, for not holding the police to
high standards of professional conduct, for theirThe Nineties in America Mount Pleasant riot 587