‘Pray For Shay’ parade drives down Las Vegas Strip, past UMC
Two peaceful protests took place Sunday evening, one on the Strip outside The Venetian and another at the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in North Las Vegas.
In addition, a “Pray for Shay” parade traveled down the Strip to University Medical Center on Sunday in a display of support for Shay Mikalonis, the Las Vegas police officer shot and injured at a protest on Monday night.
The first protest group gathered outside the Strip casino at 5 p.m. to honor the life of George Floyd, the black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a police officer held him down by the neck for nearly 9 minutes. Police believed Floyd had tried to buy cigarettes with a fraudulent $20 bill.
Shortly after that protest began, the “Pray for Shay” event began along the Strip around 5:30 p.m.
Later in the evening, another protest group gathered in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in North Las Vegas.
This is the 10th consecutive night of protests against police violence following Floyd’s death.
10:45 p.m.
Local community activist Henry Thorns put the protest together at the Martin Luther King Jr. statue to facilitate a community dialogue.
“When we leave here, we want to keep the battle going,” he said. “We want to keep fighting until they make new laws.”
About 100 people gathered at 1344 W. Carey Ave., right by the statue, and near the North Las Vegas Justice Court. Speakers discussed the death of George Floyd. They also talked about the importance of voting, their own personal encounters with police brutality and the fight for equality.
The event was organized to give voices to the residents of North Las Vegas and the Historic Westside neighborhood, according to Robert Strawder.
“The people out here had to live the life with police brutality and have dealt with the police constantly for years, and we’re tired of it and we want change,” he said, adding that he hoped people came away feeling empowered.
For North Las Vegas residents Ebonii Starks, 19, and Shila Equipado, 22, the protest helped them learn about important local offices. Both came away inspired to register to vote and to do more to help the cause.
“I came out here to support my people,” said Starks, who is African American.
“I learned all the little things you could vote for like the district attorney and city commissioners,” Equipado said.
– Alex Chhith
8:40 p.m.
MLK statue
Over 100 people gathered in front of the MLK statue near the Clark County Community Resource Center.
There was a barbecue and a community discussion on police brutality, personal experiences with police and current events regarding police brutality. They also talked about elections and the power of voting.
– Alex Chhith
7:40 p.m.
Pray for Shay
Lisa Hitchcock of Las Vegas went to the Pray for Shay parade with her family to show their support to the Metropolitan Police Department officer who was shot in the head while at a Black Lives Matter protest, last week.
Hitchcock said she has a daughter-in-law in the police force and is concerned for her every day she puts on her badge and goes to work.
“We’re all praying for him and we stand beside him,” she said of Mikalonis. “We support the decision that he made to be a police officer.”
“It was definitely, definitely something you don’t want to hear you know you don’t want to hear that come across the news,” she said. “So he was out here doing this job and that’s the bottom line.”
– Alex Chhith
7:30 p.m.
Show of solidarity
Car horns from passing motorists. Raised fists from outside diners at Fashion Show Mall. Solidarity from people of every walk of life.
The group is still marching peacefully.
– Christopher Lawrence
6:45 p.m.
‘It’s been going on long enough’
Jeffrey Henry, 44, and Phillip Volive, 65, said this is the first protest they’ve come out to this year.
“It’s been going on long enough,” Volive said, adding that he came out because he’s angry. “It’s been going on since before I was born.”
The men said they’ve seen the issue of systemic racism since before they were born and, though they don’t think he caused it, they feel President Trump is making the issue worse.
Desiree Smith, the 19-year-old organizer of the march, said getting tear-gassed at a protest motivated her to organize a march to unite the community
“The whole time (at the other protest) we were running more than we were protesting,” Smith said. “But that’s not right, we shouldn’t feel like we have to go to war.”
Smith said people told her they didn’t think she’d be able to host a peaceful event on the Strip, and she wanted to prove them wrong. She said she posted on social media to get the word out to her friends and the event grew from there.
– Christopher Lawrence
6:05 p.m.
Snack break
This protest march is so responsible, we’re already on our second break – in the shade – for water and granola bars.
– Christopher Lawrence
5:50 p.m.
Marching down the Strip
A couple dozen people gathered outside The Venetian and started marching south down the Strip by 5:30 p.m.
After reading the names of numerous black men and women killed in violent confrontations, an organizer concludes: “And many more. But we could be here all day saying their names.”
The group marched to the Bellagio and turned around to head north again. There was no police presence as of 5:45 p.m.
About 50 cars and at least two motorcycles have gathered for the Pray for Shay parade and are en route to University Medical Center.
– Christopher Lawrence and Alex Chhith
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence @reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter. Contact Alex Chhith at achhith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0290. Follow @alexchhith on Twitter.