Claims of racist acts may be investigated

Friday, May 20, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington on Thursday formally asked the Justice Department to investigate complaints by local residents who received allegedly racist fliers that were reportedly accompanied with dead animals.

Kenneth Marcus, staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting an investigation into the National Alliance, a white separatist organization that is suspected of distributing racist fliers with a dead rat and cat to two residents in Las Vegas.

The Washington agency sent the letter after receiving reports from the Nevada Advisory Committee to the Commission on Civil Rights, the local branch of the commission. David Sanchez, chairman of the committee, provided a copy of Marcus' letter.

The Nevada Advisory Committee earlier asked the local office of the FBI to investigate the claims as well.

The case centers on two Japanese-American Las Vegas residents who received fliers from the National Alliance that depicted pictures of an armed black man with the phrase, "Meet your new neighbor."

The residents reported that they found dead animals on their property after receiving the fliers.

A member of the National Alliance previously stated that the organization had never left dead animals on the property of any Las Vegas residents.