Dead animals accompany racist fliers

David Kihara

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 | 11 a.m.

The Nevada Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights will ask the FBI to launch an investigation into the white separatist group the National Alliance after two local minority residents allegedly received fliers from the group that were accompanied with dead animals.

David Sanchez, chairman of the Nevada Advisory Committee, said the group will send a letter to the FBI today requesting a formal investigation into the National Alliance.

Sanchez said he wants the FBI to look into whether the white separatist organization placed the dead animals with the fliers at the homes of two Japanese residents in Las Vegas. If the organization did, then that would constitute an effort to intimidate the residents, Sanchez said.

The Nevada Advisory Committee, the local arm of the federal commission on human rights, is also asking the Department of Justice to look into whether the fliers distributed by the National Alliance violate civil rights or any other laws.

One of the fliers shows a picture of a white woman with the headline "Love Your Race," while a second flier shows a picture of a black man with a gun and states, "Meet Your New Neighbor."

The National Alliance denied any involvement with the dead animals and one member called the incident "bizarre."

The Nevada Advisory Committee was informed of the incidents on April 25 by Wayne Tanaka, the vice president of the Japanese American Citizen League.

Tanaka, who also serves as the honorary general consul for Japan in Las Vegas, said he received National Alliance fliers at his house Flamingo Road near Rainbow Boulevard on April 13. The next day he found a dead cat under his car, Tanaka said.

One week later, a friend who is also of Japanese ancestry, reported that he also received a National Alliance flier and a day or two later had found a dead rat on the welcome mat to his house, Tanaka said.

Tanaka said he was "not making a connection" between receiving the dead animals and the fliers, but was concerned that it could be something more sinister than a coincidence.

Regardless of the vagueness of the incident, Sanchez said that the FBI should investigate to establish whether or not the National Alliance was behind the dead animals.

The FBI on Monday would not confirm or deny that it was investigating the National Alliance.

Michael O'Sullivan, a local member of the National Alliance and a Las Vegas-based real estate broker, said that the National Alliance has been involved in many leafletting campaigns in Las Vegas area but has not been involved in any acts of intimidation or placing dead animals on anyone's property.

"Clearly the National Alliance does not abuse animals," he said.

O'Sullivan said that the National Alliance distributed tens of thousands of leaflets recently and targets predominantly white neighborhoods where "people are receptive to the message."

He said that the fliers are not intended for minorities because they will likely not respond well to the message.

The National Alliance, based in West Virginia, won a lawsuit recently to re-install an anti-immigration billboard on Sahara Avenue near Joe W. Brown Drive after the company that leased the space, Clear Channel, took it down after local residents complained.