Las Vegans gather for patriotic rally

Stacy J. Willis

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

A woman whose snake tattoo is creeping out of her collar is standing next to a man in a golf shirt and pleated pants, and they don't know one another, and they are both teary-eyed, and each is trying to shelter a small candle from the Las Vegas wind.

Neil Diamond's "America" is blasting from speakers set up outside the Thomas & Mack Center, where thousands of other Las Vegans have gathered just before sunset.

They recite the Pledge of Allegiance. A fireman stands atop a yellow fire truck and thrusts a U.S. flag in the air. An old woman sits in a lawn chair and shakes her fist.

Untold numbers of Americans have been killed less than 48-hours ago in terrorists attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. And here, as in other U.S. cities, people unite with flags and candles and sorrow and fury. The event is sponsored by Infinity Radio's six local stations.

A shirtless little boy has "God Bless America" painted on his back in red, white and blue paint.

An off-duty Elvis impersonator wearing a long cloak over his jeweled costume slips in to join the crowd. Behind him, a uniformed Air Force officer holds a folded U.S. flag. Two lesbians hold each other. An older man shouts, "Let's go get 'em" across the crowd, which now, as darkness grows, stretches around the Thomas & Mack out of sight.

On stage, one by one, a stream of representatives from the North Las Vegas Police Department, Nellis Air Force base, the Red Cross, the Clark County Fire Department, the Army National Guard and the Nevada governor's office make brief speeches.

America, they say, will not lie down.

The 9-year-old son of a woman wearing a U.S. flag as a cape says, "When they find out we are a united nation, they will be sorry." He has a U.S. flag sticker on his shirt.

Several rows behind him, a man sits in a wheelchair. He's wearing a U.S. Army cap. Nearby, a young blonde woman has an "NYPD" T-shirt stretched across her chest and a cigarette lighter held in the air.

The smell of candles gives way to the smell of incense. Someone -- there, in the back, a 20-something woman wearing Birkenstocks -- is burning a long incense stick. Her boyfriend holds a hand-drawn "peace" symbol placard.

Two teenaged black girls hold back tears. A middle-aged man in black leather pants offers his candle to re-light the dimming one in the hand of man in a business suit. A newborn in a stroller screams himself red. A pastor in collar strolls through the crowd, hands clutched behind his back.

One woman weeps into a stuffed animal. Another is struggling to keep a leashed, full-grown German Shepherd in one place. An Asian-American family has spread a blanket on the cement and sits; their little girl dances when the Scintas, an Italian-American musical group from Buffalo, N.Y., sing "Proud To Be An American."

The radio disc jockeys take turns speaking to the crowd.

Las Vegas they say, is America.

The sun sets. The lights of the Strip wake up behind the crowd. The candles burn out. The second day is over.