A white man spray-painted “White Lives Matter” on a statue of tennis legend and civil rights figure Arthur Ashe on Richmond, Virginia’s Monument Avenue on Wednesday. “I’m not a racist. I just don’t agree with people desecrating property,” the vandal told a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter. Ashe’s statue is the only tribute to a Black man on the avenue, which is lined with Confederate monuments, many of which were graffitied or even toppled during anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. Gov. Ralph Northam plans to have the Confederate statues removed.
