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Ricky Castaneda, 21, launched the petition on Change.org and hopes to have it signed by 1,000 people in time for the next Elizabeth Board of Education meeting Aug 22.
"In [the] wake of the damaging October 1971 racist phone conversation between Governor Ronald Reagan and President Richard Nixon that recently surfaced, outraged human/civil rights activist from Elizabeth wants the name-bearing the late president's name removed from the magnet school," Castaneda, who has run for a seat on the board of education, wrote.
He was referring to a recording of a conversation between Reagan, who was then the governor of California, and Nixon. The recording was discovered by historian Tim Naftali.
In the recording, Reagan is heard saying "To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”
The men were discussing a recent United Nations vote on Taiwan.
Long before the recording came to light, many in Elizabeth were unhappy when the school was named for a president credited with launching a conservative revolution 40 years ago but who was widely perceived as indifferent to issues faced by people of color. Elizabeth has a large nonwhite population and nearly 60 percent of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2010 census.
"Since opening its doors in September of 2006, the school that houses 750 students, hasn't been without its share of controversy, whether it's the lack of diversity or the actual naming of the school after a president who cut public school funding," said Salaam Ismail, President of the African American Alliance, who was quoted in the petition.
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