JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Ben Frazier was a hard-charging civil rights activist who led protest rallies against the Confederate monument in Springfield Park, got arrested twice for making demands on behalf of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, and won international attention for his crusade near the end of his life.
Frazier didn't live long enough to see Mayor Donna Deegan order the removal of the Confederate monument last December from Springfield Park. But in a posthumous honor for him, the city could rename Confederate Street near the park for him by calling it "Frazier Place."
A public hearing on the legislation (2024-0543) during the Tuesday meeting of City Council showed Frazier's legacy is still as much of a lighting rod in death as it was in life.
Three people told City Council that Frazier was a divisive figure whose tactics with the Northside Coalition, which he founded in 2016, don't deserve a street being named for him. They said council shouldn't waive an ordinance that the city cannot rename a street for someone until at least five years after his death.
"We have an understanding of what it takes to be a civil rights activist," Blake Harper told City Council. "God bless Martin Luther King. Ben Frazier is not. He doesn't deserve any kind of credit whatsoever for the demographic division he sowed in this city for seven years."
Another opponent called Frazier "loud, obnoxious, rude, racist, aggressive, belligerent."
Frazier's daughter Kelly Frazier, who succeeded him as head of the Northside Coalition, said he was a trailblazer as a Black anchorman and then went on to be a civil rights leader. She said he received many awards during his lifetime.
"I do ask that you rename Confederate Street (as) Frazier Place in honor of Ben Frazier, who has done a lot of great things for this city as well as for its people," she said. "It's about bringing people together and not separating us by hate."
City Council previously renamed Confederate Park as Springfield Park in 2020. Deegan ordered the removal the past December of the "Tribute to the Women of the Southern Confederacy" monument from Springfield Park.
After the official public hearing Tuesday, City Council will start voting in committees next week on the legislation filed by council member Jimmy Peluso, whose district contains the street. A vote by the full council could happen on Aug. 27.
The renaming will change Confederate Street between Hubbard Street and Liberty Street. A long time ago, it was Park Terrace before being named Confederate Street in 1926. A memo from the city planning department said its research couldn't confirm the street got that name because of its closeness to what was then Confederate Park, but the memo said widespread speculation has made that connection.
Frazier died in June 2023 at the age of 73. Peluso's legislation notes that and the end of Frazier's life, he went to Geneva and addressed the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination. He also was a recipient of the NAACP's Rutledge H. Pearson Civil Rights Award.
The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission and the 911 Emergency Address Advisory Committee both have signed off on the change to Frazier Place.