JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Ben Frazier was a father, a journalist, and a fierce advocate for civil rights in Jacksonville, with one clear vision for the city: “A better place to live. A better place to live,” his daughter Kelly Frazier said with a smile.
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Some of Ben Frazier’s largest accomplishments include his efforts to remove Confederate monuments in Jacksonville, winning the landmark redistricting lawsuit against the city, and fighting for the eventual renaming of Confederate named schools.
Kelly Frazier says all these outline some of her father’s biggest accomplishments.
“The monuments were huge, the school name changing, that was huge. It’s really hard to put them under anything, but if I had to be at the top, it would definitely be the UN,” explained Kelly Fraizer.
Last year, Frazier addressed the United Nations’ Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, while criticizing Florida legislation aimed at increasing punishments for rioting.
Now, Kelly Frazier says it’s up to the Jacksonville community to pick up where her father left off.
“It definitely takes a village to replace the voice of Ben Frazier. He had a voice that was booming and that could be heard all around the world,” Kelly Frazier told Action News Jax. “We just ask that everybody just try to make the city a better place to be.”
The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville is hosting a Candlelight Vigil to Celebrate Frazier’s Impact on Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 pm. Frazier served as the Northside Coalition’s president. The public is welcome, and you’re asked to bring your own candle to James Weldon Johnson Park on West Monroe Street.
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