Puerto Ricans Remember Historic Confrontation with Newark Police

In 1974, the Newark mounted police evicted Puerto Rican residents at Branch Brook Park, a park where Italians used to spend time and to which Puerto Ricans were banned entrance. As a result, 800 people demonstrated in front of City Hall to demand better treatment for the community. The protests ended in a riot in which a number of demonstrators were killed and several others injured.

Speaking at a conference held at Rutgers University’s John Cotton Dana Library, academic Olga Jiménez de Wagenheim has brought back the story of that forgotten incident. The event kicked off an exhibit about the demonstration entitled “Newark ’74: Remembering the Puerto Rican Riots – An Unexamined History.”

The Puerto Rican scholar, who wrote the book “Puerto Rico’s Revolt for Independence: El Grito de Lares,” gathered documents from the Puerto Rican Community Archives Survey, as well as witness accounts, to put together her presentation.

Sigfredo Carrión, one of the people who participated in the negotiations with then-Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson, relived the incident in a conversation with Reporte Hispano.

“We didn’t get anything, and that is when the riot started. Mayor Gibson did not accept any of our demands during our meeting, and we went out to tell that to the people,” said Carrión. “We were surrounded by the mounted police. There were snipers on the rooftops. We told people that it was best to leave, that we would not give the police the chance to attack us. But the people did not listen, and they started to throw stones and bottles.”

The demonstrators broke the windows of the City Hall building “and that was the excuse that the police needed. Then, they came on horses and cars and attacked us all equally. The thing is that [in the middle of the riot] they generalize and can’t tell the good from the bad. All Puerto Ricans were enemies. And it was in that riot that they killed a young man who wasn’t even involved in the protest,” said Carrión.

After so many years, he reflects and says that the struggle of the Puerto Rican community has finally achieved something: There are currently three Puerto Rican council members in the city, there are more Hispanic police officers, there are more programs and agencies assisting the Latino community.

Researcher Jiménez de Wagenheim believes that understanding this part of Puerto Rican history is crucial for the new generations. “It is important because it is a moment of struggle for the rights of Puerto Ricans. They had been excluded from those areas, especially in the north of the city. It also demonstrates that they were able to overcome many obstacles: police abuse, discrimination… And that matters, because it gives young people the energy to continue fighting,” said the scholar.

These memories can be relived in the exhibit “Newark ’74: Remembering the Puerto Rican Riot,” which features photographs, posters, text and newspapers from the period. The event was curated by Yesenia López and Elizabeth Parker and organized by the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center at the Newark Public Library. It will be open until April 2 at Rutgers University’s John Cotton Dana Library, 4th floor, 180 University Avenue, Newark.