La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered

Ellie Walton talks about the rarely heard of events that unfolded in Washington, D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood in May 1991 and how they inspired her to share the stories of the community's Memory Keepers in her documentary, La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered. The filmmaker also discusses the impact those days had on her as a child and as a storyteller today.

On May 5th, 1991, people took to the streets of Washington D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to protest the police shooting of a young Salvadoran man, Daniel Gomez. Through testimony, song, poetry, and street theater, LA MANPLESA: An Uprising Remembered weaves together the collective memory of one of D.C.’s first barrios and dives into the roots of the '91 rebellion.

On May 5th, 1991, people took to the streets of Washington D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to protest the police shooting of a young Salvadoran man, Daniel Gomez. Through testimony, song, poetry, and street theater, LA MANPLESA: An Uprising Remembered weaves together the collective memory of one of D.C.’s first barrios and dives into the roots of the '91 rebellion.

Lilo Gonzalez, a singer-songwriter & educator, and Roland Roebuck, an Afro Puerto Rican activist, talk openly about the uprising - from representation to policing of the Brown and Black community - in Washington, D.C.'s neighborhood of Mount Pleasant.

Members of the Mount Pleasant community like visual artists Ronald Chacón and Sami Miranda voice their unpleasant, and sometimes violent, experiences with the police. This followed a new wave of gentrification that created considerable tension between BIPOC and white neighbors.

The 1991 uprising in Washington, D.C.'s Mount Pleasant was "the beginning of the conversation" for the Latino/a community. Often feeling unseen and unheard, the residents had endured policing and police brutality before the shooting of young Salvadoran Daniel Gomez.

With war in El Salvador, people fled to countries like the United States. And for immigrants living in a time of uncertainty, their new home of Mount Pleasant in Washington, D.C. became a community that honors family, culture, and more.