Celebrating New Brunswick’s Historically Dominican and Puerto Rican Communities Through Art

Murals and artwork line many New Brunswick streets, but Dominican and Puerto Rican cultures always seem to get the short end of the paintbrush. Before the 1970s, the Hiram Market section of Downtown New Brunswick, now the blocks spurring off Albany and Nielson Streets, used to be a thriving community of Dominican and Puerto Rican cultures. Now an area of urban redevelopment, it is almost as if the history of those communities has been erased. According to census tracts, in the 1980s, 54% of the population in the Hiram Market area was made up of Puerto Rican and Dominican cultures. The influx of urban development in the past few decades brings that percentage down to about 11% nowadays. In thinking about an art installation to develop for the city of New Brunswick, I wanted to put life back into otherwise underrepresented cultures. However, it is hard to do that without acknowledging the situations that led to their dispossession.

History of New Brunswick’s Redevelopment

In 1978, the City of New Brunswick made a large corporate deal with pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to stay in the City where they would construct their worldwide headquarters. It has since expanded into several blocks of the city in the 21st century. As Wagoner wrote in The New York Times in 1978, this move decades ago was the major step in “the revitalization of New Jersey’s cities” (Wagoner 1978, p. 1). Little did the city acknowledge that this revitalization would come with major cultural consequences. At the end of Wagoner’s article, Richard B. Sellars, the chairman of the finance committee and former chairman of the board of Johnson & Johnson, states “I don’t think there is anyone who has not been relocated, and that includes businesses, in the area or within New Brunswick” (Wagoner 1978, p. 2). He practically uses the excuse that since everyone had been relocated, it was okay. It wasn’t just a select few.

The expansions and projects continued in the following years. Just a year later in 1979, the city announced a second phase of the project in which they would construct a large $20 million dollar luxury hotel in the Hiram Market area. This new expansion also saw new housing codes being enforced. What the city said was “preventing landlords from crowding Rutgers University students in one- and two-family homes”, was also inadvertently targeting poor and minority families in the New Brunswick area who could not afford any other livelihood (Sullivan, 1979). The city did state they would provide rent subsidies, but they had only budgeted for about 25 homes when the redevelopment was expected to displace several hundred (Sullivan, 1979). Imagine being forced out of your home and having your community destroyed for the development of a hotel. This is something that hundreds of Puerto Rican and Dominican families had to deal with. Abraham Wallach, an urban planner who serves as president of the New Brunswick Tomorrow, stated that the hotel would provide jobs for these displaced families as bellhops and maids (Sullivan, 1979).

Continuing Housing Raids and the Fight Against Ethnic Cleansing

In the 1980s, a crackdown on housing raids began again. Many families housing illegal immigrants received knocks on their doors to move out immediately, without any help relocating. Again, many of these families were Dominican and Puerto Rican families whose houses were located in areas that the city wanted to continue redeveloping (Rangel 1988). People from the National Congress for Puerto Rican rights spoke out against the housing raids explicitly claiming that they were using this opportunity as a means of planning redevelopment (Rangel 1988). This was a fair argument considering the fact that this all conveniently started once Johnson & Johnson decided they were going to stay in town.

Although it is not proven there were any, it is hard to ignore the fact that no white or privileged families were mentioned to have been displaced in these articles. Rutgers University students in the ’90s noticed this and even held a rally on campus against the continuing development and subsequent relocation of families that continued into the end of the decade. This 30-year long issue was summed up in their rally as “Black and Latino ethnic cleansing” (The Daily Targum, 1999). The United Nations states that there is not one specific definition for ethnic cleansing, but is mainly systemically forcing or intimidating specific racial, religious, or ethnic groups out of certain geographical areas. There is usually the intent to make the area ethnically homogeneous. In my opinion, homogeneity is the need for redevelopment and Johnson & Johnson’s campus. There is a clear favor for corporate interest over the communities of color in the city that does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

The Power of Art in the Community

There is nothing we can truly do to replace the homes, communities, and cultures that were destroyed in the past 50 years from the redevelopment of the city. However, what we can do is honor and celebrate the city’s past and remember the historical relevance of the displaced communities, specifically from the Hiram Market area of New Brunswick. As mentioned earlier, New Brunswick is home to many murals honoring different legacies, events, and communities in the area. There are murals ranging from ones honoring its longstanding Hungarian population to those honoring the lives lost from COVID-19. I thought it would be very fitting to dedicate a mural to the Dominican and Puerto Rican families that once lived in the Hiram Market area. What was once a “deteriorated neighborhood” to some was home to others (Wagoner 1978, p. 2). Considering the Hyatt Regency New Brunswick is now built in the area that was once their community, I plan on placing it on the side of the hotel’s exterior. A research study from The University of Minnesota states the many benefits of artwork in cities. First, the addition of arts for a specific community means holding events (Briel et al., 2013). The recurring art events mean recurring support and recognition for these communities. From the presentation of the mural to its upkeep once-struggling to potential future additions, there can be countless events held to continue to remember the honored communities. The study also states “that the more diverse the group of people that comes together to participate in an art-related activity, the more likely building will develop on individual, collective, and community levels (Korza and Bacon 2008)(Briel et al., 2013, p. 9). This is exactly the goal. I want people of all different backgrounds to come together and learn about the past and present of their community and share stories and different cultures. The community attachment also builds in the sense that people visiting the mural or area will now be able to have a landmark to show future generations the area in which they had once lived and thrived.

To further promote community engagement, I want the mural to be collaborative, meaning all members of the community can participate in the creation of the mural. The word community is derived from the Latin communitas, meaning “joint ownership” and “public spirit” (Chocano 2018), which is what I want this mural to reflect. I want it to bring spirit and life into the area, and I want the communities to have joint ownership. This joint ownership is not only between the Dominican and Puerto Rican communities but owned by every single community member whose paintbrush touches the wall. It also creates humane and healing environments for vulnerable populations, such as those being honored in this mural. I want the mural to be a fun experience that fosters a new inclusive identity in the city and among community members.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the history of New Brunswick’s redevelopment has affected the city in more ways than one. In the eyes of the city, it has brought in millions of dollars in revenue and has “revitalized” its once struggling communities. However, it has also erased the communities of the former residents who lived there. Hopefully, the idea of celebrating the community through my mural will bring a new breath of life into the now urbanized environment. For many years New Brunswick ignored the foundation of the city’s past by enforcing the idea that redevelopment was the foundation of the city’s future. It is now our job as members of this “future” to pay homage to those who once lived in the area of the Hiram Market; communities of Dominican and Puerto Rican families.