![[The 90’s raw: Mount Pleasant riot – Alexa Freeman interview]](https://mediaburn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/653916933_640-228x160.jpg)
Raw footage shot for the award-winning series The 90’s. This tape features footage of Rev. Jesse Jackson on the streets of Washington, D.C. during the May 1991 Washington D.C. riot, also called the Mount Pleasant riot. It is followed by an interview with lawyer Alexa Freeman of the ACLU National Prison Project about incarcerated women.
Andrew Jones goes to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots of 1992. He speaks with many people about the racial issues that sparked this uprising–the feeling that blacks and Latinos had been systematically discriminated against in their own neighborhoods for years. The main complaint is that stores in their neighborhoods were owned by whites and Koreans and they were overcharged for all services and products. Much of the tension appears to be between the blacks/Latinos and the Korean shop owners. Another interesting feature of the tape is the discussion of the differing motives between rioters and looters and between the actions in different parts of the city. For example, in some areas, only specific businesses, those that were seen as longtime oppressors, were targeted. A man shows footage from his camcorder of the looting, and notes that all of the looters were white, and all were smiling. Clearly, the situation in Los Angeles was far from simple. This tape is a fascinating glimpse into the psychology of the time period.