#Fail To The Redskins: The New York Giants won the Super Bowl Sunday night, but most of the D.C. Council seemed to be thinking about a different football team, one that wasn't eligible for the sort of playoff run the Giants made this postseason even though two of their five victories in 2011 came against the new champs. Ward 8's Marion Barry kicked the party off:

You know, the Redskins suck. I'm tired of watching everyone else in the Superbowl. Aint been right since they left DC. #dciswhereskinsbelong

— Marion S. Barry, Jr. (@marionbarryjr) February 6, 2012

But Yvette Alexander weighed in from Ward 7, as did Mayor Vince Gray. Barry, meanwhile, spent the rest of the evening using his new hashtag. And the parody account @DCCouncil (the real council account is @CouncilofDC) pretended various D.C. elected officials were in Indianapolis at the game, which at least one follower didn't realize was a joke. When the home team stopped playing football a month before the Super Bowl, alas, this is the sort of stuff that people spend their time on. Wait 'til next year? -2

United In D.C.: Along the same lines that Barry was tweeting on, since the Redskins left and the Nationals got their own digs, there's only one fulltime tenant at RFK Stadium these days (unless you count the fauna that also call the stadium home). And now D.C. United looks likely to stay in the lease until they can get a less ramshackle home of their own. The only major local pro team to win a title in the last 20 years is close to a deal with the District to reduce its rent so it doesn't lose money just in time for next month's season opening match. +2

Unemployed, Employed, Same Thing: Some D.C. government workers have figured out an ingenious "make money quick!" scheme: Pretend they're not working. According to authorities, the District has paid out more than $800,000 in unemployment benefits to people on the city's payroll since 2009. The workers have been fired, but if the checks on fraud are so lax that the city didn't notice it was paying unemployment to people it employed, we might try to put a claim in ourselves, too. -4

Virginia Is For Gun Dealers: If you're the type who likes to buy a new weapon every day, you may soon find yourself heading over the Potomac more often. Virginia is on the verge of repealing a long-standing one-gun-per-month purchase limit, presumably because the deer population is exploding so quickly that hunters need to be very heavily armed. Chances are this will mean more guns sold in Virginia wind up in places like D.C., of course, but hey—what do rural Virginia lawmakers care about that? -2

Friday's Needle rating: 45 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 39

Tips For Thomas: Now that Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. has been formally charged by federal prosecutors for theft and filing false tax returns, the question becomes: What's next? Loose Lips is on it, musing about who could run to replace Thomas (should he resign, which he hasn't formally done yet), and getting tips from other politicians who have gone to jail, including a disgraced Philadelphia councilmember, Jimmy Tayoun. "It's all mental," Tayoun says. "It's nothing big."  Optimism! +3

Did They Get $1 Million? We don't like this lede: "Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a 7-month-old golden retriever puppy Wednesday in Middletown, according to County Animal Control Director Harold Domer." This is the second time a pet has been killed with a gunshot in the area this week. It's unclear if they're participating in the kill-your-pet-for-a-million-dollars experiment Slate writer Matthew Yglesias touted yesterday. -5

Safe Travels: Nearly 100 of D.C.'s National Guard soldiers are deploying to Afghanistan. Reports WJLA: "This is the 22nd post-9/11 deployment for the D.C. National Guard, with 32 of the guardsmen headed out for a second tour of duty." Good luck, and come home safely. -1

Marion Barry, Brought To You By White People: At least according to Marion Barry: "I have more white support than people say I do, but I don't worry about that," Barry told Huffington Post D.C. "That's what frustrates some of these white people out here. They get frustrated, all worked up. They can't do a damn thing to me or about me. Isn't that funny?" Hilarious. -3

Yesterday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 43

I Can't Pay My Taxes: Being on the D.C. Council comes with a few perks—the chance to weigh in on important matters of public policy, the ability to use donations from powerful business interests to buy things to make your constituents like you, free Lady Gaga tickets. And oh, yes, also an average salary of $130,538 a year for a part-time job. So it's a bit of a mystery why Ward 8's Marion Barry has so much trouble filing federal income taxes properly. But he does, and the IRS has now filed a lien on the house he owns on Orange Street SE, seeking $3,267.19 in unpaid taxes from 2010. Which, of course, still doesn't even make him the councilmember with the biggest IRS worries. -2

Ho Ho Ho: 'Tis the season to be jolly, as the saying goes—or, perhaps, to attack your neighbor's Christmas light display with baseball bats, doing $7,000 in damage. Which is what happened in Fairfax Station over the weekend. Unfortunately for the grinchy teenagers suspected of doing the deed, the homeowners whose lights they smashed (and ran over with their Ford Taurus) caught the whole thing on a security camera. Someone will find out who's been naughty, in other words. -1

Boom: Metal detectors have popped up all over the city in the years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and sometimes it's tempting to wonder whether they serve any purpose. Especially after the news that undercover police officers have managed to smuggle fake bombs into the Wilson Building and other government offices more than a dozen times recently. Only the security at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters was able to catch every attempt to bring a simulated explosive into the building. -2

Snow Problem At All: The District will not be caught unawares the next time a snowstorm hits. So vows Mayor Vince Gray, who lined up snow removal equipment on Pennsylvania Avenue NW yesterday to demonstrate all the tools at the city's disposal to keep roads clear in icy weather. The new plan for dealing with winter actually mostly involves keeping people where they are, rather than sending them all out onto the street at the same slippery time. Another key piece of the official D.C. strategy: "Build snow people." Meanwhile, new forecasts say there probably won't be much snow to worry about this winter, anyway. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 37 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 33

(For reference)

This was the year that Marion Barry discovered the concept of nudge.

After a debacle—no turkeys!—at his 2010 annual giveaway, the Ward 8 councilmember announced plans earlier this fall to revamp the affair by using the prospect of a free bird to encourage positive behaviors: To get a turkey, constituents would have had to do things like attend parent-teacher conferences, go to community meetings, or register to vote. Alas, by last week, the turkey incentivization efforts had been scaled back: Under the new rules, residents may get a health screening, but otherwise just need to prove that they live in the ward.

Still, the idea of using freebies to get people to do things seems like a good one. What might it look like if it was embraced by Barry’s colleagues from other parts of town? Some suggested ward- or councilmember-appropriate turkey incentives:

Jim Graham, Ward 1

• Beneficiaries must agree to have the energetic councilmember visit their home and personally take credit for cooking the entire Thanksgiving feast.

Jack Evans, Ward 2

• Turkeys will be available to residents who give a campaign contribution of under $500 to Evans in the name of every person attending their Thanksgiving meal.

Mary Cheh, Ward 3

• Cheh will generously load free turkeys into all cars with Ward 3 parking stickers—so long as those cars also display decals advertising private Northeastern liberal arts colleges.

Muriel Bowser, Ward 4

• Turkeys available to all. But locations will only be revealed to those who ask via “Dear PoPville” questions posted to the Prince of Petworth blog.

Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5

• Recipients must demonstrate that their most recent Hooters meal was paid for from their personal bank account.

Tommy Wells, Ward 6

• Free turkeys will only be available to those who agree to walk or bike to their turkey meal—and to tweet about how livable and walkable their Thanksgiving was.

Yvette Alexander, Ward 7

• Residents may receive free turkeys only after demonstrating that they have pre-purchased future Thanksgiving spreads at the long-desired Skyland Walmart.

Illustration by Brooke Hatfield

Tweet On, You Crazy Diamond: Mike DeBonis confirms that former Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry is, indeed, tweeting his own tweets from a brand new Twitter account. “The social media is hot right now,” he says. “I want to keep in touch with technology. I want to stay in touch with the young people.” Sample tweet: "@KwameBrownDC WELL KWAME I LEARNED HOW TO TWEET." +10

Drive Slow, Homie: WTOP reports that a new District government study says D.C. drivers are driving more slowly on 70 percent of roads surveyed, including the Anacostia Freeway, Memorial Bridge, Canal Road and 16th Street. They credit the slow-down to more red light cameras and speed bumps. +5

Where Do Lonely Arts (Commissions) Go? The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities will be assuming control of the troubled Lincoln Theatre in the wake of reports about its financial troubles. "DCCAH is basically mangaging the process of finding an artistic director and getting it off the ground until there's management in place to run the theater," says DCCAH spokesperson Marquis Perkins. +3

Pull Your Pennies Together: The ESPN Sports Zone auction is tomorrow, says WJLA: "Items in the online auction include a Washington Redskins football-throwing game, several air hockey tables, industrial-grade cooking platforms and kitchen utensils. Even the most minute of items, including speakers, subwoofers, lights, tables and chairs will be on the block." See the list here. +2

Friday's Needle rating: 30 Today's score: +20 Today's Needle rating: 50

The Ward 8 council race has its official first dust-up, and it doesn't even include Councilmember Marion Barry.

Jacque Patterson, former head of the Ward 8 Democrats and almost at-large council candidate, tells LL he's going to make a run at Barry's seat: "I've got my wife's approval, I'm gonna run."

An official kickoff is scheduled for later this month. Patterson says he informed Barry, who is expected to seek re-election, of his plans last week. Patterson stressed that he doesn't plan on attacking the Grand Poobah of District politics in any way shape or form.

"You don't run against Barry," says Patterson. "You speak to what is really hurting and happening in the ward."

But that doesn't mean Patterson himself won't be on the receiving end of some political fisticuffs. ANC Commissioner Darrell Gaston, who is also seeking to dethrone Barry, has scheduled a news conference tomorrow where he says he will present evidence that Patterson is a no good signature forger.

Read the rest at Loose Lips.

That’s not to say readers will have to wait until the impending ebook release to get their Sherwood and Jaffe on. Plenty of copies are available online—for a price. If Dream City’s fate was the same as that of other tomes about race, power, and hometown D.C., its price on the secondary market underscores its lingering influence. A tale of the tape, via Amazon.com:

Book: The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation’s Capital

Author: Constance McLaughlin Green

Published: 1967

Current Price: $26.50 (used). New copies unavailable.

Book: Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion and Folklife in the City, 1850-1970

Author: James Borchert

Published: 1980

Current Price: $18.95 (new); $2.44 (used)

Book: Marion Barry: The Politics of Race

Author: Jonathan I.Z. Agronsky

Published: 1991

Current Price: $42.14 (new); $0.01 (used)

Book: Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington D.C.

Authors: Tom Sherwood and Harry S. Jaffe

Published: 1994

Current Price: $80 (new); $39.68 (used)

Book: The Last of the Black Emperors: The Hollow Comeback of Marion Barry in a New Age of Black Leaders

Author: Jonetta Rose Barras

Published: 1998

Current Price: $21.81 (new); $0.01 (used)

So, Marion Barry has car troubles again. What else is new? The Ward 8 councilmember was in the news yesterday after he was spotted driving down Pennsylvania Avenue with the rear bumper of his silver Jaguar rattling along the pavement. Barry told The Washington Post that the car had been the victim of a hit-and-run while parked outside his home. It also apparently had been keyed. "When you live in the ghetto, this happens."

Maybe. But when your name is Marion Barry, it happens even more. A rundown of some of Barry's historical car troubles:

June, 1980: Early in his mayoral term, Barry is criticized for being chauffeured around town even as he was cutting other officials' car budgets. A spokesman says that the city-funded driver allows the mayor to work in the car. Irked at the negative coverage, Barry moves to close the press office. The spokesman is reassigned.

June, 1984: While making an illegal U Turn, the then-mayor's Lincoln Town Car collides with a motor scooter, causing minor injuries to the scooter's driver.

May, 1988: Barry's mayoral Lincoln Town Car is in an early-morning accident en route home from a night on the town that included a nightclub party in Georgetown and what aides call a "subsequent gathering with out-of-town associates at a private home." Asked by reporters what he was doing out so late, the mayor describes himself as a "night owl." His driver is charged with failing to yield.

June, 1988: Barry's unoccupied car is damagaed by a passing freight train while parked too close to the railroad tracks near the Anacostia River. The Washington Times reports that the mayor was at an aide's family party on nearby M Street SE at the time.

February, 1989: Barry is in an accident at the corner of 34th Street and Woodley Road NW after his chauffeured car runs a red light while its dashboard light is flashing. The other driver does not see the twirling light. No one is injured. A news crew from CBS's 48 Hours had been trailing Barry for a profile; their vehicle drives him back to his office.

January, 1993: The Chrysler New Yorker purchased for Barry by supporters upon his release from prison is stolen on Barry's very first day back on the D.C. Council. Barry tells police that someone snuck into his office and stole the keys during a legislative session. A gospel-singing former child prodigy is arrested; Barry initially suggests he may have known the perp, then says he had "no idea" who he was.

February, 1993: Barry auctions off the "haunted" New Yorker for $14,000—well above its stated value. Post columnist Courtland Milloy accuses him of selling out the friends and constituents who gave it to him.

Sept. 1, 1994: Barry's car is booted outside the Post's building while he's inside lobbying the paper's editorial board for its endorsement in the upcoming Democratic mayoral primary. Department of Public Works officials say he had eight outstanding parking tickets.

Sept. 14, 1994: On the day that marked his triumphal return to the mayor's office, Barry receives a $15 parking ticket for blocking traffic on election day. Police soon drop the ticket.

March, 2002: U.S. Park Police claim to have found trace amounts of marijuana and crack in Barry's Jaguar after they found the former mayor, a private citizen at the time, parked in a no-parking zone at night near Buzzard Point. Barry later accuses them of planting the drugs. No charges are ever filed, but Barry and his wife separate soon after, and he abandons a comeback effort. He says he was in the desolate area to meet a friend who needed counseling.

December, 2010: Barry reports his Jaguar stolen. Police recover it several days later.

March 1, 2011: Barry's car is booted over his failure to pay nine parking tickets with a cumulative fine of $705. After he paid six of them—at a cost of $520—the boot was removed.

March 31, 2011: The Post reports Barry has been driving an unregistered vehicle for six month. Rather than going through the legal registration process, the councilmember had apparently just transferred the license plates from his old car to his new one when he switched from a BMW to the Jaguar.

Photo of Barry's silver Jaguar (parked in a crosswalk) by a City Paper tipster

UPDATE, 6:06 p.m.: Washington Post business reporter Johnathan O'Connell tweets out an incident we failed to mention:

July, 2007: Barry claims his Mercedes is sideswiped by a passing B2 Metrobus, causing significant damage. Though he cannot verify the incident—there were no witnesses, the bus was undamaged, its driver denied any incident, and Barry had not reported the accident to police—Metro's general manager overrules a subordinate and orders that Barry be reimbursed $3227.40. At the time, Barry is a board member of the transportation authority. The Post reports that the cost of the repairs was about $1000 less than the payment.

Legalize, Or At Least Discount, It: The District's medicinal marijuana program is moving along, albeit not as quickly as some might like. But what about those of us who don't qualify under the strict regulations? Turns out we're overpaying for pot. A study by Floating Sheep published in Wired this month found D.C. pays, on average, $460.70 per ounce of the non-medical stuff—more than anyone in any state. The lowest prices were in Oregon, at $255.80 per ounce. In the area, Maryland paid $436.30, and Virginia $411.90. Somehow we don't suspect Gov. Bob McDonell will be attributing that stat to his allegedly pro-business policies. -2

Bumper For Life: Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has had his fair share of problems with cars, from registering to parking. Now his ride has more existential trouble. Barry drove up to the Wilson Building today with the bumper on his Jaguar hanging off the car. He told reporters he'd been hit a few weeks ago by a stolen car making a quick getaway, and that "when you live in the ghetto, all this happens." At least the car isn't leased by the D.C. government, in which case we'd all be on the hook for the repairs. -1

Power To The People: There's a reason they don't build massive coal-burning power plants in the middle of densely populated neighborhoods anymore. Admittedly, that reason is that the land the power plants might occupy is more valuable as the site of condos and luxury boutiques than as a place to generate electricity. But burning coal isn't the healthiest thing you can do for the people nearby, either, so the news that Alexandria's Mirant facility, operated by GenOn Energy, will close next October is welcome for anyone sick of breathing ash. No word yet on what price the condos that will, inevitably, wind up in the building will fetch. +3

Canned Food Frenzy: Spooked by the earthquake, many Washingtonians decided disaster preparedness was no laughing matter as Hurricane Irene approached, as anyone who made the mistake of setting foot anywhere near a grocery store (or Costco) Friday or Saturday can testify. But since the storm's fury was a little softer than expected, most of the stockpiled food people bought up wasn't needed. No need to binge on sardines or potato chips, though; area food banks say they'll happily accept your non-perishables. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 55 Today's score: +2 Today's Needle rating: 57

Still, the shades did convey a certain insouciance that some other folks around D.C., past and present, might benefit from.

If Thomas Jefferson was wearing sunglasses at his memorial, for instance, he wouldn’t have minded if people danced there—in fact, he might have joined them.

Wearing mirrored Sulaimon specs, maybe New York Rep. Anthony Weiner wouldn’t have felt the need to send photos of his shaved chest and stuffed briefs to women he didn’t know.

And if former Mayor Adrian Fenty had strolled around the city wearing sunglasses, would voters have even noticed that he didn’t seem to like talking to them?

We’ve also provided a handy set of Brown-inspired specs in case you find yourself in need of some sangfroid while out and about. Print, clip, and save!

Photos by Tolka Rover via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0; U.S. House of Representatives; Darrow Montgomery. Illustrations by Brooke Hatfield

Barry Farm Rec Center, 1230 Sumner Road, SE.  May 27th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

On May 19, 1993, the D.C. government lost one of its early Home Rule-era leaders and most accomplished legislators. D.C. Council Chairman John A. Wilson was found dead in the basement laundry room of his Southwest home by his wife, Bonnie, and chauffeur. His death, ruled a suicide by the Metropolitan Police Department, sent shock waves through the D.C. political scene, of which Wilson was a 20-year veteran. The longtime Ward 2 councilmember, who assumed the council chairmanship in 1991, was known for his own brand of brazen politics.

Wilson, who died at age 49, helped bring the civil rights movement to nation's capital. In the 1960s, he was one of the "po boys," as Jet magazine wrote in an obituary, that also included future D.C. Mayor and Councilmember Marion Barry and future Georgia Congressman John Lewis, to fight alongside Stokely Carmichael's Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. When the battles turned bloody in the South, Wilson and his fellow activists shifted their efforts to Washington.

Jet wrote that Carmichael had warned them that "[b]lacks can't change the system." But Wilson didn’t listen and moved to the predominately black city with the hopes of helping black residents in their fight for an equal vote in Congress and more autonomy for the D.C. government in the federal city, fights which continue today.

Shortly before his death, Wilson opened up about his political woes, saying that he might retire, despite pressure to run for mayor the following year. The Washington Post reported at the time that trouble at home may have also fueled his chronic depression. In 1992, Bonnie Wilson learned of her husband's infidelity and threatened him with divorce. She moved out of their home, until Wilson convinced her to move back.

The Post also reported that Wilson sought medical treatment and counseling for his depression six months before committing suicide. A funeral service was held at St. Augustine Catholic Church. Barry, who was no stranger to personal turmoil, offered tearful words. "I'm not concerned about how John Wilson died, I'm concerned about how he lived," Barry said at the time. "He was daring. He had so much courage." Lewis, a veteran of the Freedom Rides, said Wilson's death was a "tragic loss. He was my friend and I will miss him terribly."

In 1994, the seat of the District government, at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, was renamed in Wilson's honor.

Photo by Flickr user m.gifford using an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

Raspberry's column, which called Jarvis "a formidable candidate," was a follow-up to a story by Post city reporter Arthur S. Brisbane. Four days earlier, Brisbane called Jarvis a "formidable" vote-getter who "made a modest showing" in a run against Barry four years earlier.

Washington City Paper's Loose Lips took issue with the Post's ignorance of District politics in City Paper's May 2 issue:

Neither of these gentlemen was willing to provide the figures demonstrating just how formidable a candidate Jarvis has proved herself to be in a citywide race. Well, here they are: In her 1982 bid to deprive Barry of re-election to his second term, Jarvis pulled a stunning 2.8 percent of the vote. That's right. Contrary to Rasberry and Brisbane's reasoning, only 3,235 voters throughout the city felt Jarvis was qualified and deserved to be mayor. When you divide her vote among the city's eight wards, she pulled an average of 409 votes per ward. Many Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) members have more pulling power at the polls in their wards than Jarvis does. [...] If she can get 20 times the meager number of votes she got four years ago, which is highly unlikely, then and only then would she become a "formidable" foe to the mayor. But, after Jarvis has demonstrated so many defects during her term on the council, she should probably be called away for repair or replacement.

Jarvis apparently heeded LL's advice and didn't run in the 1986 election, which Barry won handily.

The so-called Mayor for Life even managed to convince the Post to endorse him for that race, though the paper noted it endorsed Barry this time "with far greater reservations and misgivings."

Barry, of course, is still a player in D.C. politics, currently representing Ward 8 on the D.C. Council. While still representing Ward 4, Jarvis took on another job in 1996: president of Southeastern University. After being ousted from her Ward 4 seat in 2000 by future Mayor Adrian Fenty, Jarvis remained at Southeastern, which lost its accreditation in 2009, merged with the GS-Graduate School, and shuttered its doors. Jarvis currently sits on the board of trustees for KIPP-DC.

On April 5, 1968, civil disorder that had started the night before after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis turned into a full-scale riot in the District, prompting a federal response to protect the government and restore order on the streets.

The night before, local African American organizers—including activist Stokley Carmichael—had begun ordering stores to close out of respect for King's death.

Among the few stores that didn't close was Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street NW—mostly because Carmichael wanted to use it as a headquarters. As owners Ben and Virginia Ali told Washingtonian in 2008:

We put a sign in the window that said soul brother. We were not the only ones who did that. It was supposed to identify an African-American business. Some of them were saved, but some were burned. We were the only place that remained open during the curfew. Stokely Carmichael told me, "You are going to stay open. We need a place to meet to see what we can do to quell the violence. City officials and police officers will be coming here." I said, "There’s a curfew. How are my employees going to get through?" Next thing I know, we’ve got passes for the employees.

A march to protest King's murder turned into a mob, and by 9:30 p.m. store windows were being broken, and items looted.

Even so, D.C.'s police chief at the time, John Layton, believed the situation was under control. While riot units had been deployed by 11 p.m., Layton dismissed them by 3 a.m. the morning of April 5, thinking the disturbances were over.

They weren't. Mid-morning that day, Carmichael spoke at the Gaston Neal New School for Afro-American Thought, located at 14th and T streets NW. His words at the press conference were anything but calming. As recorded by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood in their book Dream City:

"When white America killed Dr. King last night," [Carmichael] told the reporters, "she declared war on us. There will be no crying and there will be no funeral... The kind of man that killed Dr. King last night made it a whole lot easier for a whole lot of black people today. There no longer needs to be intellectual discussion. Black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry since she killed Dr. King last night."

Carmichael ended his speech by waving a gun over his head and shouting: "Stay off the streets if you don't have a gun, because there's going to be shooting."

Just after noon, smoke from burning buildings was visible from federal office buildings downtown. The U.S. government effectively shut down by mid-afternoon, as fleeing workers caused what's remembered as one of D.C.'s worst traffic jams.

By 3 p.m. rioters had completely overwhelmed D.C. police, who had been ordered to engage only with tear gas, not live ammunition, on orders from D.C. Mayor-Commissioner Walter Washington. With stores being ransacked at 14th and G streets NW, just two blocks from the White House, President Lyndon Johnson ordered "Operation: Cabin Guard" into action. Troops marched across the Memorial Bridge from Arlington at 4:40 p.m. Troops erected machine gun emplacements around major buildings, including the White House, and began using tear gas to enforce a 5:30 p.m. curfew.

Nightfall saw a gradual end to the riots, and over 10,000 troops were patrolling a city where major commercial corridors were devastated.

One business that did escape the burnings, however, was the Giant supermarket chain. Joseph Danzansky, Giant's chairman, had been active in working with emerging African American community organizations (including Pride, led by activist Marion Barry.) Danzansky had allowed Pride's landscaping business, run by teenagers, to store their equipment at Giant stores. During the riot, Pride's leadership repaid the favor by dispatching workers to guard Giant stores. While five Safeway locations lay in ruins by April 6, not one Giant had been touched by the violence.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress