Anti-racism groups march to protest killings

LAS VEGAS - Some 150 people representing anti-racism groups from around the country marched through a quiet neighborhood Saturday evening to protest what they called the racially-motivated killing of two men last month.

The two-hour rally and march ended peacefully.

Dozens of police officers were on hand as the group rallied at a local park, then marched down a busy Las Vegas thoroughfare and along quiet streets in a neighborhood where leaders said the killers live.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police have made no arrests in the deaths of Daniel Shersty, 20, and Lin "Spit" Newborn, 25. Their bodies were found July 4 and July 6 in a desert area about 150 feet from each other.

Josh Klein, a spokesman for the group Anti-Racist Action, said Shersty and Newborn were members of the Las Vegas Unity skins and supporters of the ARA.

The ARA claims the two men were lured into the desert and shot execution style after being beaten.

Protesters carried signs reading "Nix Nazi Boneheads," "Bigots Begone" and "Whites Against White Privilege."

They chanted slogans such as "No Nazis, No KKK, No Facists USA."

A majority of the marchers appeared to be in their teens or early 20s.

Josh Miller, a member of the Columbus, Ohio ARA chapter, told members at the rally that the march would be conducted "through a neighborhood where known Nazis live."

But there were no confrontations as bewildered residents watched from driveways or peered out windows of homes and apartments.

Metro Lt. Rick Alba said the large contingent of officers - both uniformed and plainclothes - was on hand "to make sure nobody gets hurt."

Among those on hand for the march was Vermont McKinney, regional senior mediator for the U.S. Justice Department in Los Angeles. He said one of his roles was to mediate differences between groups such as the ARA and neo-Nazi skinheads.

"We want to make sure there are no problems that could escalate into confrontations," McKinney said as he marched through a quiet neighborhood at dusk, a police helicopter hovering overhead. "Part of our job is to keep conflicts from happening."

He said anti-racist activists attending Saturday's rally came from numerous cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Detroit and Columbus.

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