← Back to Podcast/4 July 1998: Las Vegas anti-racists murdered
Episode Transcript

4 July 1998: Las Vegas anti-racists murdered

On this day, 4 July 1998, best friends Lin "Spit" Newborn, 24, a Black skinhead and singer, and Daniel Shersty, 20, a white US air force serviceman - both members of Anti-Racist Action (ARA) - were murdered in the desert outside Las Vegas by a gang of white supremacists. 
Newborn's friend, PJ Perez, described him as "a madman. A poet. A motherfucker whose good side you'd want to stay on. He was a father, a son, a passionate and dedicated fighter for what's right." Shersty was born to a working class family in Florida, and joined the air force in order to fund college which his parents could not afford.
The pair, both amateur musicians, met in Las Vegas, became fast friends and helped co-found the local chapter of militant anti-fascist group ARA. ARA took the fight to neo-Nazis who were recruiting in the local skinhead scene and attacking Black and Latine schoolchildren as well as white "race traitors".
One neo-Nazi was swiftly jailed for the murders, and others were convicted in 2012. ARA continued their fight against white supremacists across the US, and helped disrupt many of their activities, and successfully drove them from many local youth subcultures.
Learn more about Anti-Racist Action and the group's origins in Minneapolis in our podcast episode 49: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e49-anti-racist-action-in-minneapolis/
And check out our book, We Go Where They Go, the definitive history of ARA, also available on the podcast episode page.

Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.

Speaker 1: On this day in working class history, the fourth of July.

And on the fourth of July nineteen ninety eight, best

friends Lynn spit Newborn twenty four, a black skinhead and singer,

and Daniel Shirsty, twenty a white US Air Force serviceman,

both members of anti racist action, were murdered in the

desert outside Las Vegas by a gang of white supremacists.

Newborn's friend P. J. Perez described him as a quote madman,

a poet, a mother whose good side you'd want to

stay on. He was a father, a son, a passionate

and dedicated fighter for what's right end quote. Shirsty was

born to a working class family in Florida and joined

the Air Force in order to fund college, which his

parents couldn't afford. The pair, both amateur musicians, met in Vegas,

became fast friends, and helped co found the local chapter

of militant anti fascist group AIRA. Took the fight to

Neo Nazis who were recruiting in the local skin had

seen and attacking black and Latina school children, as well

as white quote race traitors. One Neo Nazi was swiftly

jailed for the murders, and others were convicted in twenty twelve.

AIRA continued their fight against white supremacists across the US

and helped disrupt many of their activities and successfully drove

them from many local youth subcultures. Learn more about anti

racist action and the group's origins in Minneapolis in episode

forty nine of the Working Class History podcast. Listen wherever

you're listening to this podcast and check out the book

We Go Where They Go, a history of ARA, also

available on the link in the show notes.

Speaker 2: And the sources maps and all of our anniversaries each day.

Speaker 1: Check out the on this Day section of our stories

at at storiestopworkingclasshistory dot com, and if you value our work,

support us at patroon dot com slash working class History.

Links in the show notes the music prior to Cardo Area.

See you tomorrow.

Speaker 2: M

This transcript was automatically generated by the podcast creator and may contain errors. Aggregated via the PodcastIndex API.