A statue of African American tennis legend Arthur Ashe on Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue has been vandalized with the words “White Lives Matter.”.

Ralph Northam ordered that statue's removal last month, but it has been at least temporarily blocked by a lawsuit.Harris said he believes his uncle's statue “stands for everything the people are working for right now.”Ashe, a Richmond native, was denied access to tennis courts as a child because of segregation.

The slogan is considered to be a white supremacist phrase that originated in 2015 as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the Next, a few neighborhood ladies came with wire brushes and cleaner.

Ralph Northam ordered its removal in June, per the Associated Press, however an ongoing lawsuit has blocked the order.Ashe, a Richmond native, was the first Black man to ever win singles titles at the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and the first to ever make it onto a United States Davis Cup team. A statue of African American tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Virginia was defaced with the words “White Lives Matter,” police said Wednesday. *warning a story....so today started off basic enough, and meeting Fatima for coffee and a walk along Monument Ave... normal walk until we hit Arthur Ashe and a guy was tagging white lives matter on the statue.. 1/4 "I was shocked, dismayed, and angry," Pashaei told CBS News. ©2020 FOX News Network, LLC.

Arthur Ashe Statue in Virginia Vandalized With ‘White Lives Matter’.

Then the guy came back...and left 2/4 He was captured on camera leaving and then returning to remove the Black Lives Matter signs that were already there while others were seen removing the racist slogan.After being confronted by a group, the man, who was wearing a bandana with an American flag covering his face and blue shirt, said, "Don't all lives matter? Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue.

By Christopher Brito He was also well-known for his work to promote education and civil rights, to oppose apartheid in South Africa and to raise awareness about AIDS, the disease that eventually killed him in 1993.Ashe's statue was erected in 1996, but only after rancorous debate.“If we're going to put up a statue of somebody, let's put up a statue of somebody that stands for equality, that stands for education, all the things that my uncle held true,” Harris said.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Get your Fantasy Football league up and running today!Removing monuments is the easy part.

Three years after his death, his monument was erected in 1996 to counterbalance statues on the avenue filled with Virginian Confederate veterans. "I'm not a racist," he said.

"I just don't agree with people desecrating our property. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: This content is currently not available in your region. A statue honoring tennis great Arthur Ashe was vandalized amid protests in the late icon's hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

Video on social media showed a man who was at the memorial appearing to defend the White Lives Matter signs.

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Police are investigating after the statue of civil rights activist and legendary tennis player Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Virginia was found Wednesday vandalized with "White Lives Matter" graffiti. Despite the statue being vandalized during recent protests, and his family asking for it to come down, the statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe will remain up on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.

The statue memorializing Arthur Ashe, the tennis legend and civil rights activist, will not be moving from Richmond’s Monument Avenue.

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The statue of Mr. Ashe, a Richmond native, was defaced with “WLM” and “White Lives Matter.”. All rights reserved. Why is it okay to spray paint on this statue Black Lives Matter and not White Lives Matter, what's the difference?" Ashe is …

While a debate about statues and monuments is ongoing throughout the country, Harris thinks the solution is simple. The Ashe statue seemed safe from defacement during recent protests over racism and police brutality, when protesters covered Confederate statues with graffiti and pulled down a statue …

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Gov.

However, Betsy Milburn was taking stroll with her friend Fatima Pashaei when they encountered the vandalized statue.

“We were just considering it at the height of the protesting so that if any credible threats came through Mayor [Levar] Stoney had the leeway to do it without having any pushback from us if he felt the need to take it down,” Harris said, Only one Confederate statue remains in the city, one of Gen. Robert E. Lee. "Several people cursed at us when they saw us cleaning off the WLM graffiti," she said, adding that it appears there's a "lot of Confederate sympathizers" hanging around Memorial Avenue.Ashe, who hails from Richmond, was the first black man to win U.S Open, Australian and Wimbledon titles. Stoney invoked his emergency powers, citing the ongoing civil unrest and concerns that protesters would get hurt if they tried to pull down the enormous statues themselves.The only Confederate statue that remains on Monument Avenue is a memorial to Gen. Robert E. Lee located on state property. Virginia Gov. He was later named a captain of the team in 1981, inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993. All people need to do is look to his uncle.“If we’re going to put up a statue of somebody, let’s put up a statue of somebody that stands for equality, that stands for education, all the things that my uncle held true,” Harris said, PGA Championship leaderboard: Tiger Woods is in contention in Round 1The statue of tennis star Arthur Ashe stands on Monument Avenue, Friday, July 10, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP/Steve Helber)Make better choices. All market data delayed 20 minutes.