The statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe was spray painted with the words “White Lives Matter” and “WLM” on Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia. Ashe is, so far, the only black man to win Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Throughout his career and afterward, Ashe fought for racial equality and civil rights, especially the movement to end apartheid in South Africa. He died in 1993.
The Ashe statue was one of six on Monument Avenue in Richmond. The other five monuments commemorated Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Jefferson Davis, JEB Stuart, and Matthew Fontaine Maury. Protesters demolished the Davis statue last week. After days of protests over racial inequality and police brutality, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the Lee statue to be removed “as soon as possible.”. Mayor Levar Stoney later said he would propose the removal of the other four Confederate statues.
During his career, Arthur Ashe said: “I know I would never have forgiven myself if I had chosen to live without a human purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps, the pure rejoicing of life comes from trying to help to others”. On February 6, 1993, he died in New York hospital from pneumonia due to AIDS. He is remembered as a sporting example of all time, with more than 800 victories during his career.