Fury in Mount Pleasant: How Government Policies Combined to Originate a Latinx Disturbance in Washington, D.C. in 1991

Abstract

Mount Pleasant, a diverse Washington, D.C. neighborhood, erupted in violence on May 5, 1991, after a police officer shot a Salvadoran migrant, instigating the city’s only Latinx led-disturbance. This thesis reveals how federal foreign and immigration and local pro-growth policies combined to originate the conditions that sparked this event. The Reagan administration’s foreign policy in El Salvador fueled one of Latin America’s bloodiest wars that drove Salvadorans to flee to the United States, including to Mount Pleasant. The administration’s immigration policy relegated these migrants to an undocumented status that marginalized them in this country. At this same time, local pro-growth policies spurred urban revitalization that drew to Mount Pleasant white professionals whose vision for the community created inner-communal tension, especially over the use of public space, which added to Latinx marginalization and frustration. Federal and local officials failed to anticipate and mitigate the consequences of their actions, and when their policies combined at the community level, it precipitated an event that continues to shape how Washingtonians see their city.