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Pride shone through the District this weekend. Pride festival events, including the D.C. Pride Parade and Capital Pride Festival, kicked off on Saturday and ran through late last night. The parade returned after a two-year hiatus to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with music, float loads of rainbows, and bright sunglasses. The festivities continued yesterday with the Capital Pride Festival along Pennsylvania Avenue NW from noon to 10 p.m.
Salvadoran pride was also on display at the second annual Mi Pequeño El Salvador Festival hosted by the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs. The gathering of residents at Lamont Park in Mount Pleasant, historically known for its large Salvadoran community, started yesterday at 2 p.m. and featured local vendors and artisans as well as information on rental assistance and immigration legal services.
Among the performers, Dominican guitar and bachata legend Luis Vargas elicited a crowd of camera-pointing residents and requests for selfies. A Dominican band that alternated between bachata and merengue evoked confusion for some Salvadorans in the audience. Several told City Paper they wondered why there was so much Dominican music instead of traditional Salvadoran music or music that’s more popular in their home country, such as cumbia.
False Alarms at Saturday Gatherings
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Thousands of protesters also gathered Saturday in support of gun control. Gun violence survivors and families of victims of shootings spoke at the March for Our Lives rally, the second such event held in D.C. since the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. This demonstration took place following the racially motivated shooting on May 14 at a supermarket in Buffalo that left 10 people dead, and the murders of 19 children and two teachers, many of whom were Latinx, on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
“I shouldn’t have to be scared that somebody’s coming around the corner with an AK,” Cassandra Palmer, an Arlington native whose high school was one of eight that received bomb threats in February, told WUSA9. “Nobody should be afraid when they walk into a school building.”
On Saturday evening, both the D.C. Pride Parade and the March for Our Lives rally were interrupted by fears of gun violence, the Advocate reports. A large crowd of people in Dupont Circle suddenly started running away from a threat “as if they were in a panic,” according to local journalist Will Smink, who was sitting at a restaurant with coworkers when the incident happened.
“It felt very intense and frightening,” Smink told the Advocate. “But once we spoke to several people who were leaving the area, they informed us of what was a big fight in the circle. And they said somebody allegedly pulled a gun, which is when everybody began to run.”
A MPD spokesperson told the Advocate that police officers investigated and found no threat and no reported injuries.
Earlier on Saturday, during a moment of silence for victims in Uvalde at the March for Our Lives Rally, some people started running away in a panic.
“An individual interfered with a permitted event on the Washington Monument grounds,” the U.S. Park Police announced via tweet. “The individual was detained by officers. No weapons were involved, and there is no risk to the public.”
—Ambar Castillo (tips? acastillo@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- To see today’s COVID-19 data, visit our coronavirus tracker.
- A recent report by the Office of the D.C. Auditor shows uncertainty about how much violence interrupters are helping reduce violent crime in the District. [WTOP]
- A 16-year-old boy was injured in a shooting incident last night on the 600 block of 21st Street NE near Benning Road. [NBC4]
- Road closures begin today for the Something in the Water music festival. [WJLA]
- Justice designate Ketanji Brown Jackson gave a commencement speech yesterday to her daughter’s graduating class at Georgetown Day School. Brown Jackson stressed the importance of a growth mindset, including a constant quest to learn, and “[choosing] your own adventures.” [Post]
By Ambar Castillo (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced former D.C. student RuQuan Brown at the March for Our Lives rally protesting gun violence, yet Brown used the opportunity to criticize Bowser for her inaction in the past two years since the pair spoke about the issue. [New Yorker, Post]
- Some incarcerated D.C. residents won the right to vote two years ago, but hurdles remain for those looking to actually cast their ballots in the June primary. [DCist]
- The final campaign finance reports to post before the primary are trickling in. Among the notable results: Bowser still has a ton of money in the bank, but At-Large Councilmember Robert White raised more cash from D.C. residents (and doubled Bowser’s number of D.C. contributors) over the past month. [Twitter]
By Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- José Andrés will finally open a new restaurant in the Old Post Office (now the Waldorf Astoria), fulfilling a dream the chef says he’s had for more than 30 years. [Twitter]
- The folks behind Calico and Tiger Fork opened Bar Ivy, a Cali-style restaurant with a garden patio. [Washingtonian]
- St. James, a “modern Caribbean” spot on 14th Street NW, has jerk wings “so soft, the succulent chicken barely clings to the bones,” Tom Sietsema writes. [Post]
By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- A Strange Loop, the acclaimed musical about a Black queer playwright working as a theater usher writing a play about a Black queer playwright working as a theater usher, won two Tony Awards last night for Best Musical and Best Book. Before it landed on Broadway this spring, A Strange Loop played at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in December, where theater critics rightfully rained praise upon it. [New York Times]
- Speaking of Tony winners, Fort Washington native Myles Frost, who starred as the titular character in Broadway’s musical on Michael Jackson, took home the award for best actor in a musical. [WUSA9]
- Big shoes to fill: After 25 years leading Arena Stage, Molly Smith has announced her plans to leave the theater next July. [Post]
By Sarah Marloff (tips? smarloff@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- G-Leaguer Dyson Daniels shows his stamina during a pre-draft workout with the Wizards. [NBC]
- “Wasted opportunity” for the Mystics in an overtime loss to the Phoenix Mercury. [Post]
- Commanders head coach Ron Rivera fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 comparing racial justice protests to the January 6 insurrection. Del Rio then deleted his Twitter account over the weekend. [NPR, Twitter]
By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)
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