Elizabeth, NJ-In 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.

"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.

The conversation, that's predicated on Ronald Reagan, phoning the White House to vent his political frustration to President Richard M. Nixon, when he said quote, “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!"

"Naming the school after Ronald Reagan in the States 4th largest urban city, was the former corrupt school board majority led by Raphael Fajardo's way of rubbing it in the city government's face because the two were often at odds with one another," said James Carey, chairman of the Resistance Movement Organization and the catalyst behind the removal of the name.

"My classmates would often ask, why was that school named after Ronald Reagan because they would see his name in big letters as they traveled down one of the busiest corridors that connects Newark and Elizabeth," said Ricky Castaneda.

Activists will attend the next school board meeting on Thursday, August 22nd, and present petitions bearing 1,000 signatures in support of the name removal.

The school, whose address is 730 Pennsylvania Avenue, occupies one of the busiest intersections in Union County.

We the undersigned residents of Elizabeth, NJ, endorse this petition in an effort to have the Elizabeth School Board, remove former President Ronald Reagan's name from the school bearing his name at 730 Pennsylvania Avenue, for the insensitive, racist remarks he made in 1971 about African delegates to the United Nations, when he said quote, 

“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”