Attachment A - Citzen Petition Susan Steinberg.pdf

Based on City Code Section 18-1: As a citizen of Phoenix, I am submitting a request to the 
Phoenix City Council that the names of Indian School Road, Steele Indian School Park and 
Robert E. Lee street be changed, as all three are offensive names and derogatory in nature. 
Indian School ( which is the base name for the park and the road) is the name for a school 
attended by Native American children. Native American Schools erected by United States 
Government purpose was to assimilate Native Americans into “America” culture, many 
forcefully against their wills and ripped apart from their families.  
Suggested names: Begay, after the code talker who helped the United States win World War 2, 
as a reflection of the value for the inclusion of Native American culture in our greater wider 
American culture.   
Second suggestion: the information below has been cut and pasted from an article published by 
Navajo Times By Rima Krisst | Published on Oct 10, 2019 | 
Currently there are Navajo uranium miners, downwinders, and second- and third-generation 
family members who still suffer the ongoing impacts of uranium toxicity. According the U.S. 
Environment Protection Agency, approximately 30 million tons of uranium ore was removed 
from 1944 to 1986 from Navajo Nation lands, supplying the atomic energy arsenal of the U.S. 
military in the Cold War era.  Nez  a member of Navajo Nation said examples of those who were 
in indirect exposure including children who played in abandoned mines or mill tailing piles, 
sheepherders who watered their sheep in open pit mines, women who washed dust-coated 
clothing of their uranium miner husbands, and people who obtained their drinking water from 
streams that ran through or near uranium mines. “Because of this, generations of these Navajo 
individuals and families have experienced abnormal rates of cancer,” said Nez a member of 
Navajo Nation. 
While cancer had been almost unheard of prior to the uranium mining, it is now the second 
leading cause of death on the Navajo Nation. Uranium development on Navajo was entirely used 
for military applications. 
I suggest the name be changed to Virginia Jonesa Navajo woman who is now suffering 
from cancer due to uranium development ( she was in the womb when she was first 
exposed to it), as a way of honoring her pain of having developed cancer at a young 
age, and the death of both her parents from radiation poising that came from their 
service to America but also to bring attention to this important issue that is plaguing so 
many in the Navajo Nation. 
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Robert E. Lee is the name of a confederate solider, honoring his name is a hateful celebration of 
the icons of those who supported slavery. 
Name Change suggestions for Robert E. Lee Street would be Emily Perez in honor of Emily 
Perez who was the first African American who died in military combat. 
Another possible name would be Kalief Browder. 
Attachment A

The information below came from 13th is a 2016 American documentary by director Ava 
DuVernay. 
 
There is a civil rights violation currently going on with people waiting in prisons before their 
trial for a crime. They can not afford bail and sometimes wait for years for their trail. This was 
the case for Kalief Browder he was charged a crime and waited in prison for two years. The wait 
in prison lead him to be beaten by both guards and inmates, after two years the charges against 
him were dropped, and within a few years of being released he committed suicide. Many people 
believe that Kalief Browder’s suicide was due to experiences of being degraded he felt through 
the prison system. Naming the street after him would bring light to this issue of those many 
people who are waiting in prison cells who are never convicted of a crime, do not have enough 
money to post bail, and experience psychological trauma or agree to charges only to speed up 
leaving jail. 
 
The other possibility for the street is to name it after JR Williams a 38 year unarmed black man 
who was shoot and killed on a foot pursuit by Phoenix police January 9th 2017. Or Dion Johnson. 
On May 25, 2020, Dion Johnson, a 28-year-old black man was killed in Phoenix, Arizona, 
during an arrest for driving while intoxicated. This information is from 
MappingPoliceViolence.org and Arizona Central News Paper.