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Arthur Ashe statue vandalized with ‘White Lives Matter’ graffiti
The Arthur Ashe statue is located a few blocks from my residence. So far we’ve seen not only a wave of vandalism of Confederate and Columbus monuments in the area but also the vandalism of a synagogue and now this. A lot of people in my neighborhood, from elderly black male blue-collar workers to young white female college students to Salvadoran food service workers, are worried there is going to be another Charlottesville in the area. There’s already been at least one armed confrontation plus an incident of a cop driving his car into a crowd of protestors.
The Richmond statue of Arthur Ashe was vandalized with “white lives matter” graffiti tags late Wednesday morning, setting the community further on edge followings weeks of protest and vandalism throughout the city.
After photos of the vandalism on the statue honoring the civil rights activist and tennis icon were shared to social media earlier in the morning, a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter saw a man in a blue shirt spraying the phrase on the statue at approximately 11:35 a.m. At that time, the statute had already been spray painted with “white lives matter” in white paint, though “BLM” appeared to be painted over some of the messages in red as well.
