Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
There were no ``demonstrations, uproarious in nature,'' to quote the nation's first elected black governor.
No apparent belittling of Virginia heritage, as a man waving the Confederate flag predicted.
A few hundred people gathered Tuesday along the city's famed Monument Avenue to pay respect to Arthur Ashe, the tennis star, humanitarian and Richmond native whose statue will punctuate the street built to honor Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson and other heroes of the Confederate South.
But Richmond did more than simply break ground for the statue of a black man on the City of Monuments' showpiece boulevard. Tuesday on Monument Avenue, Richmond looked like a city of the New South. And still, it promised to remember the old days.
``Some say that Arthur Ashe doesn't deserve to be here; some say he deserves better,'' said former Gov. Douglas Wilder, a sweat stain on his collar and a grin on his face.
``That battle is over, and we're breaking new ground now. We are here to learn from our history, not to escape from it.''
The city struggled for months to decide how best to honor Ashe. Some blacks said he was too great a man to stand with the generals who fought for racism and separation. Some whites called it insulting to let modern-day politics make a statement about the past.
Tuesday's ceremony was notably Richmond-esque: Hot and humid. Steeped in history. Seersucker suits, fancy hats and Confederate flags waving in the background.
Behind the stage erected for the occasion, a dozen or more men wore Confederate uniforms, held Confederate flags or otherwise paid homage. Others held signs promising ``The South Will Rise Again.'' Most of the protesters were quiet, and they took care to position themselves and their flags in a direct line with the TV cameras that faced the microphone.
Ron Doggett, host of what he calls an ``unapologetically pro-white'' local access cable TV show, ``Race and Reality,'' weathered a few jeers from the crowd. One woman blamed him for racial violence in the city. ``Richmond is belittled by violence, and it's not done by people wearing Confederate flags,'' he responded.
But Tuesday's ceremony was reverent, the protests mostly distant and respectful. George D. Canavos, a 35-year-old counselor from Glen Allen, wrote ``Let Arthur Rest in Peace'' on a cardboard shell and held it aloft with a yardstick. He had heard there might be protests, and came hoping to head them off.
``He stood for more than just sports; he was a dignified man I could look up to,'' Canavos said. ``We don't have too many heroes these days. We should all see that this is a good thing, not bad.''
The Rev. Michael Johnson, a minister at Sixth Baptist Church in Richmond's West End, came to the ceremony with 30 children from the church summer camp.
Normally, the grade-school kids would be in classes and workshops on a Tuesday morning. But the groundbreaking, Johnson said, will teach them more.
As Johnson talked to two newspaper reporters, the gaggle of young children bubbled around him as if he were the ice cream man. The monument will cast a similar scene: Ashe holding a book and a tennis racket, surrounded by children looking up.
``What do you know about Arthur Ashe?'' Johnson asked the kids. They responded with a collective stare toward the ground. Johnson laughed and put each hand on a young shoulder.
``They'll learn,'' he said. ``We'll teach them how much he means to the city. Especially now, they'll learn.''
by CNB