Article originally published on washingtonpost.com
This weekend, in Bristol, Conn., a Little League team from Southeast D.C. will take the field and make history.
The Mamie Johnson Little Leaguers will be the first predominantly black team and the first team from east of the Anacostia river to represent the nation’s capital at the Little League Mid-Atlantic Regionals. If they succeed, they will head to the ultimate contest, the Little League World Series.
At home, their city is experiencing dramatic demographic shifts. Affluent newcomers have transformed much of the District, and many longtime residents — particularly in the heavily African American neighborhoods of Southeast — feel left out or threatened by the changes, especially as gentrification creeps across the river. Tensions over the pace and nature of development have been building.