It’s not so surprising that the residents of Van Wickle Road in East Brunswick aren’t thrilled with the inconvenience a change in the name of their road would cause. But, I happen to know that some in that community are moved by the information that their street was named after a slaver and would prefer that East Brunswick stop memorializing this judge who sent 100 people back into bondage in the South while profiting mightily from these horrendous transactions, thereby securing the economic future of the Van Wickles.
It seems to me that the inconvenience of the renaming could be mitigated fairly easily. The street could bear two names for a transition period and as new residents take the place of current ones, they could begin using the new name exclusively. We have other streets in East Brunswick that bear two names, most prominently the address at which the East Brunswick Town Council holds its meetings. Very often I see the Town Council and municipal court address listed as 2 Jean Walling Drive, indeed a green road sign labeled “Jean Walling Drive” used to accompany the sign that reads “Civic Center Drive.” What happened to it?
Kathryn Scarbrough
East Brunswick
