I was 17 years old at the time and on the phone talking to my girlfriend and she must have heard it from her mom or dad.  She was real scared when she told me--but I was outraged.  I kept talking about how “we” were going to get them (the elusive “establishment") for this, but she just thought I was crazy and was in fear for her own life.

When I got off the phone, I turned on my radio (in those days there wasn’t a TV in every room).  WTOP had a reporter at 14th & T NW in Washington, DC and was giving live updates as a crowd gathered. 

They reported when Stokely Carmichael came out and tried to calm the crowd by urging them to unite and fight in a rational way.  When a window shattered, Stokely left the area.

Not long after, WTOP reported the first windows breaking while they still reported there were no police around.

Soon the reporters said they became the targets of stones and they left the area.

The next morning, I learned that the city had begun to erupt, along with cities throughout the country.  I called my friends and we agreed that King’s death was an outrage and that we needed to act.

Five of us piled in a car and headed from the suburbs toward downtown Washington, intent on tearing something up when we reached the “riot” area.  As we got close to 16th & T, we saw someone struggling with a television set.  We decided we’d help the guy carry his set.

Before we reached the corner of 16th & T, a police car pulled out and blocked us.  The officer got out and cussed us out.  At first, it appeared he was going to lock us up (the city was under curfew), but instead he told us to get out of the city.

We turned our car around and headed back out 16th Street.  The roads were earily empty and we weren’t stopped as we headed back out of town. 

We weren’t able to exact any revenge for King’s death that day, but over the next few years the guys in that crew managed to wreak some havok a number of times.

For the next two days, TV coverage was non-stop with appointed Mayor Walter Washington appealing for calm and James Brown repeatedly telling everyone to stop rioting.  The non-stop TV appearances did much to tarnish Brown’s image as many branded him a “Tom.”

The commercial areas of 7th Street NW, H Street NE, 14th Steet NW and what’s now known as Burroughs Ave. NE and Martin Luther King Ave SE were largely destroyed.  The vacant lots you see today are where the burned buildings once stood.

If you want to read a blow by blow account, pick up a copy of “Ten Blocks from the White House” by Ben Gilbert, available at Amazon.

Your site is realy very interesting!