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A statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Virginia used to be defaced on Wednesday. The words “White Lives Matter,” in addition to the letters “WLM,” were spray painted on the figure.
The statue of Ashe is one of several that lines Monument Avenue in downtown Richmond. The other five celebrate figures from the Confederacy, according to USA Today: Jefferson Davis, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Matthew Fontaine Maury, and J.E.B. Stuart.
The letters “BLM” in addition to “Black Lives Matter” were eventually spray painted in red on the statue to cover the “White Lives Matter” messages.
The statue of Davis — on the same road as the one of Ashe — used to be pulled down final week in the wake of protests calling for racial equality following the death of George Floyd by the hands of a Minneapolis police officer final month. The days are likely numbered for the Lee statue as mannered. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced on June 3 that it must be removed “as soon as imaginable,” according to USA Today.
Additionally, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is planning a proposal to have the other four Accomplice statues removed from the city.
Ashe is the only African American man to win the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon in his career. The Richmond local died in 1993 at the age of 49 after contracting HIV throughout a heart surgery procedure.