Following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, D.C. has been gripped in protest for five days straight. As demonstrations intensify, local food businesses downtown have been broken into and burned.

This isn't the first time Washingtonians have protested the loss of black life, and it's not the first time restaurants have witnessed it. Ruth and Patrick revisit a conversation with Virginia Ali, who cofounded Ben's Chili Bowl and witnessed the 1968 protests that destroyed her neighborhood. Virginia Ali shares the origin story of Ben’s, why her business stayed open through the protests and how they survived the years that followed.

Music and archival audio in this episode included DancingInTheStreet.mp3">"Dancing In The Street" by Martha Reeves & Vandellas and an excerpt from the documentary "King Is Dead."

Read a transcript.

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