LineSpeakerSt TimeContentEn Time
1DCB_int_010.7052So let me- Before we go back- Cause I- I wanna3.0460
3 3.2301kind of ask you a little bit about that.5.2830 
5 5.9130But6.1537 
7 6.3065before you went off to college7.7789 
9 8.0196<clears throat>8.5930 
11 9.3433there's a lot10.3202 
13 10.9007of attention11.6723 
15 11.9808in DC12.7312 
17 13.1630nationally because of the riots and- [and things] like that.16.2282 
18DCB_se3_ag4_m_0215.3716[Right.]15.6831
19 16.3344Right.16.6317
20DCB_int_0117.5449And- and you-18.5642
22 18.7666you were19.3329 
24 19.5453front and center.20.2691 
25DCB_se3_ag4_m_0220.2390I was.20.8620
26DCB_int_0122.1857Talk to me.22.8299
28 23.0069Can you tell me about that experience, like25.4603 
30 25.7718what did it mean to be27.0460 
32 27.2796a- Not even just a black male at that time, but29.9059 
34 30.1537just to witness all of that? Like31.7718 
36 32.0125this something that I read in my history books or34.6246 
38 34.9219if I- if I'm privileged to read it in my history books36.9790 
40 37.3329or I can hear about I d- But you got to live it.39.5717 
41DCB_se3_ag4_m_0240.6600Yes. And,41.8709
43 42.3135you know, sometimes as you're going through things44.9540 
45 45.3433you don't appreciate46.6175 
47 46.9149the historical significance of it until- until much later.50.3027 
49 50.8195Um,51.3716 
51 51.6760<ts> what I remember,53.0989 
53 53.5307uh,54.0616 
55 54.2457about the- the riots when Doctor King was killed was57.6760 
57 58.1645that, uh, I was at school.59.5944 
59 60.5401And they61.7364 
61 62.2319c-62.3240 
63 62.6496I got called to the principal's office.64.3485 
65 65.0281And I thought (whispering)65.6794 
67 66.4905what have I done?67.3966 
69 68.7983Um, I said I haven't done anything. Why are they calling me to the principal's office?72.2315 
71 72.7595And, so, they- they- they called me into the principal's office, and they-76.1857 
73 76.8582they- they said, um,78.2457 
75 78.6958<ts> /RD-NAME-1/, we've-79.5736 
77 80.4514th- they're having riots downtown and- and, um, they've called out the National Guard, and84.8161 
79 85.4037it's-85.8638 
81 86.0054they're burning buildings and87.3716 
83 87.9450all kinds of things are going on.89.1343 
85 89.5844And, of course, we didn't have90.9648 
87 91.1630ready access92.5293 
89 92.7558to the media and the TVs and all that kind of information like we do now,97.0498 
91 97.3754so I didn't know.98.1753 
93 98.8620And, um, they-100.1503 
95 100.2990they100.5798 
97 100.7084told me that they had arranged for103.3541 
99 103.8921all of the104.7770 
101 105.0035black students to go home with either107.2617 
103 107.6015faculty members or other students,109.5878 
105 109.9346so that you wouldn't have to go down111.3292 
107 111.8035and be in-112.4972 
109 112.7804in the city and be113.8988 
111 115.4179near the-115.9025 
113 116.6496the riots and117.3858 
115 117.7893that sort of thing. I said, well,118.8865 
117 119.8564that's not-120.3944 
119 120.8020Thank you, but that's not necessary.122.6779 
121 123.2938There were only123.9734 
123 126.4622I think two students who lived128.0337 
125 128.9965anywhere near where the- the-130.3556 
127 130.7662the rioting was taking place. Most of us lived132.9648 
129 133.4108towards the outer edge of the city,134.7629 
131 135.0672and most of us lived fairly close together.136.6459 
133 137.2971So138.0829 
135 138.4976I138.8869 
137 139.5453just told 'em, I said I- I can take everybody home.141.8601 
139 142.1220I- That's fine. I was driving at the time.143.9767 
141 144.4510So (laughing) I piled everybody in my car,146.4726 
143 146.8903and, um,147.9167 
145 148.2777one young lady- one student- female student who lived150.3306 
147 150.7170sort of close to the area,152.0550 
149 152.3664she went home with an- another one of the black female students.155.2263 
151 155.6298And, um,156.7949 
153 157.0214I was able to drop everybody else off, and158.8478 
155 159.1734we all went home, got home safely.160.7662 
157 161.2546Um, it was a time when there was a-162.7500 
159 163.1973Thereafter was a curfew in the city so165.1380 
161 165.5132you couldn't be out after a certain hour and167.5874 
163 167.8917that sort of thing and that was a little169.2904 
165 169.4603hair-raising.170.2245 
167 170.7770Um,171.5132 
169 172.3415<ts>172.4406 
171 172.9007<exhale>173.2192 
173 173.8493I- I- I didn't truly appreciate175.8709 
175 176.1470all of the rest of what was going on177.9450 
177 178.3698at- immediately.179.2971 
179 179.6794Certainly180.6775 
181 181.7200when everything died down,183.1543 
183 183.8530and the curfews were lifted and people were trying to return187.3471 
185 187.7576to something of a normal life,189.4212 
187 190.4052coming back in town and being close to the areas193.2904 
189 193.8001that had been hardest hit195.4707 
191 195.8530by the riots196.7733 
193 197.4316was very very sobering.199.1114 
195 199.4957So,200.1895 
197 200.6425um,201.1593 
199 202.0371my family attended church203.8847 
201 204.4905at Sixth and M Street, right up-206.0408 
203 206.1895right up the street.207.1026 
205 207.7256And,208.7662 
207 209.4104uh, right around the corner was Seventh Street211.6939 
209 212.1116and parts of Seventh Street that were214.2494 
211 215.4033devastated by the-216.5755 
213 216.8374by the riots and what went on.218.6213 
215 219.2442And so,220.2282 
217 220.5963um, some of the places-222.4581 
219 223.0781many of the places that we were familiar with,225.3350 
221 225.6831and particularly the kids were familiar with because228.0900 
223 228.5047when church was- Sunday School was over with, we'd go around the corner and-231.2230 
225 231.7610and go to the store or something like that,233.6298 
227 234.1537those places were gone.235.2480 
229 236.2603Um,237.0956 
231 237.9875U Street was239.2900 
233 239.4458decimated.240.1447 
235 240.6463And, um,242.2249 
237 242.7983it was a- a place where244.9502 
239 245.9696on the weekends247.0285 
241 247.2267I'd take a date and go to the movies.249.2159 
243 249.6619Um,250.4830 
245 251.1555and you'd have your sort of pick of-253.6373 
247 253.7860There were several movies all along U Street,255.5415 
249 255.9026and you had your pick of where you could go.257.5024 
251 257.9838And all that was gone.259.1630 
253 259.5878Um,260.1328 
255 260.4655the places to eat,261.4070 
257 261.7893um,262.4264 
259 262.7591places that were,263.7502 
261 263.9271you know, familiar.264.8515 
263 265.3895All- all of that-266.2107 
265 266.4797all of that changed, um,267.9450 
267 268.4476and so there was just269.6440 
269 270.3631i-270.7029 
271 270.9931a- a lot of-272.4726 
273 273.3221a lot of devastation.274.9573 
275 275.2830Um,275.7643 
277 276.1183and a lot of-276.8576 
279 277.6727a lot of- a lot of change.279.3575 
281 279.5982But then280.3273 
283 282.2740there was a lot of opportunity283.8638 
285 285.6052to-286.3896 
287 286.5231to do some things. And so,287.9838 
289 288.6109um,289.0781 
291 289.7081<ts>289.8355 
293 290.1753out of the rubble,291.2584 
295 291.7468you started to see things- other- so- some good things start to happen295.0344 
296DCB_int_01296.6779Like what?297.0787
297DCB_se3_ag4_m_02297.6760Um,298.1362
299 300.2668more local control.301.3541 
301 302.0196More- more f-302.9894 
303 303.1380more focus on,304.8157 
305 305.2688um,306.1395 
307 307.1276the need for jobs, job training,309.2725 
309 309.6194uh, the creation of other opportunities for- for- for people312.8657 
311 313.2904whose, um-314.3664 
313 315.1664for whom the- the-316.1645 
315 316.7591the-317.1131 
317 317.7219the riots in many respects were319.2409 
319 319.7081um,320.3027 
321 320.7629a venting of321.6902 
323 321.9238years and years of frustration.323.3891 
325 323.8888Um,324.3489 
327 324.5471and that's not an excuse,325.8497 
329 326.3806but326.8974 
331 327.5557it- it kind of puts it in context.329.8393 
333 330.4622Um,331.0781 
335 332.0337and so,332.8549 
337 333.2371um,333.6831 
339 334.0300the- the- the-334.7662 
341 335.3113you started to see336.3306 
343 337.0144certainly the Federal Government338.1187 
345 338.3877start to invest339.4566 
347 340.1008money in- in- in programs and services in the city,342.9790 
349 343.5382and some- some things start to-345.3858 
351 346.1574start to happen politically. Now I missed out on a lot of that348.7595 
353 349.0639because by that time when things started to really change,351.4920 
355 351.8035I've gone and I'm now away at college and in- I'm in New Jersey.355.9488 
357 356.4160And it's, um,357.5345 
359 357.8247a completely different world and359.0847 
361 359.6157my time here in DC,361.5382 
363 362.0479starts to become362.9469 
365 363.2442much more limited.364.1149 
367 364.4476I come home365.2971 
369 365.9555for the-366.5501 
371 366.9294o- occasionally on the weekend.368.1682 
373 368.6921Um,369.3150 
375 369.6902o- occasionally for the-371.2192 
377 371.8422the- I-372.2528 
379 372.5047Thanksgiving and- and Christmas but only374.6284 
381 374.9823for a brief period because376.3556 
383 376.8511that's basketball season. We're378.3731 
385 378.5542playing or in training,379.7718 
387 380.2815and so381.1947 
389 381.4212I'm not able to spend a lot of time.382.8724 
391 383.1414I'm going-383.7006 
393 384.2569I'm going back, and so385.6585 
395 386.2178I don't really get into,388.1503 
397 388.9715um,389.3962 
399 389.5307all that's going on here.390.8374