another brick story was created on the blog this morningas I was building to a climatic end of a personal account of a historical event
grant the smaller of my little monkeys took a break from wrestling his older brother to turn off my computer
with the push of one glowing blue button I saw the screen go black
no signal... no chance to publish and post
the basic tale was of the Mount Pleasant Riots in 1991
there was talk of tear gas
boarded up bike shops
the actions of a former dc punk kid who took the actions from works to aggression
as he walked out with a handful of stolen goods from 7-11 on Mount Pleasant Street
with his face hidden with a sweat shirt wrapped around his head he turned around and returned one of the full cans of coke
he returned it right through the front window of that 7-11
like the shot heard around the world
the flood gates opened
shouting and screaming moved to looting and destruction
it was that action that took the energy on the streets to action on the streets
mad and dangerous action
it was the mob against the establishment
I rode the streets curiously on my bicycle
an innocent bystander like so many others
watching the danger unfold in front of me
amazed that people were not getting more hurt with all the flying rocks and speeding police cars
shocked to see the police risk lives as the sped down the streets lights flashing
only to chase a small child for tossing a rock
buildings were on fire
police cars were over turned
metro buses were burnt to nothing more than large aluminum skeletons
the looting seemed so calculated
young boys ran from the CVS then People's Drugs with what looked like a list of packages requested by their moms; pampers... midol... whole milk... eggs... and coffee... not the power rangers and chocolate bars I had expected to see in their hands
there was one small child with a grand smile pushed a shopping cart full of bricks
as I rolled past slowly with sunglasses over my eyes and moist bandana over my nose and mouth both shielding me from the burn of tear gas I commented on this young enteprenuer...
making mention that he would get rich selling the bricks for a dollar
to that the cute little child responded with the timing of a professional comedian.... "shit... you throw these bricks at a cop car and I will give you them for free"
I wonder
I can not help but wonder
some forteen years later... has this same young boy from Columbia Heights grown up only to continue to hurl bricks at passerbys?
mount pleasant photographer