Written by: Andrea Aguilar-Miranda, Caminos al Futuro 2024
The sun beams through my window, waking me up for a long but adventurous day ahead. My first stop is at Buff and Brew, the coffee shop at GW’s Mount Vernon campus, where I talk with my fellow Caminos Scholars about our day trip to the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Mount Pleasant is a historic neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. and home to a large Latino community.
After a short bus ride from Foggy Bottom to Mount Pleasant, we meet Dr. Patrick Scallen, a Professor at Georgetown University and American University and a historian of the Salvadoran immigrant population in Washington, D.C. Most importantly, he is our very own tour guide for the day! We walk down the street, passing by the Latino-owned businesses that have shaped the neighborhood to what it is today. Dr. Scallen explains the gentrification of the neighborhood as Latino and African American families move to more affordable areas. To combat this gentrification, the Latino community has protested chain restaurants, appealed for better city regulations, and co-operated residential buildings with fellow tenants.
The 1991 Mount Pleasant Riots also took place in the neighborhood, where a Salvadoran man was shot by a D.C. police officer, sparking three days of protests. Hearing this story and many others during the tour helped me develop a deeper understanding of the struggles that Latinos face and continue to face in fighting against discrimination and oppression. I began to truly appreciate the hard work the Latino community has put in to ensure our culture thrives in these changing areas of the city.
After the tour, we ate an amazing lunch of delicious pupusas at Ercilia’s Restaurant. Reader: I highly recommend trying the pork and cheese pupusas, the flavor made my tongue dance the tango!
Andrea Aguilar-Miranda is a Caminos al Futuro 2024 scholar. Andrea’s views are her own and not necessarily reflective of the Cisneros Institute.