Williams: Voting rights, not naming rights, must be the priority

"Dad said that's correct … they tried to go outside Richmond," Fergie Reid Jr. said. "They tried to go statewide. Some people understood what they were trying to do and did it locally, like Attorney General Jay Jones' grandfather (in Norfolk) and Congressman Bobby Scott's parents (in Newport News). But for the most part, nobody was interested in actually doing the work, which is very unglamorous and arduous and slow.' 'That's why he said the people who are trying to come out with the Virginia Crusade for Voters, jumping over the top of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, using the same name and trying to act like it's a big statewide thing, they're beating a dead horse," Reid Jr. said. "Because they can do the name, but the work's a lot harder than doing the name. Are they going to do the work?' Meanwhile, RCV members bristled at the idea of being subordinate to a new organization that reportedly has set up eight chapters, including one in Metro Richmond, according to Black Virginia News. "We've been a vital organization, a vital organ, for Black Richmond, and that's a legacy that took a long time, a lot of blood, sweat and tears to build," Robertson said. "Frierson came to a Crusade meeting and tried to present the organization and get our buy-in, if you will. But the thing about that is that the Richmond Crusade for Voters is not an organization that is underneath or subject to any other organization." Robertson and Lester said the situation is rife with potential confusion. "We're already getting emails into our general mailbox that are supposed to be addressed to him," Lester said of Frierson. He wonders if the reverse is happening.