Black Lives Matter protest weaves down Fremont Street to claps, waves, eye rolls

A small group of protesters holding “Black Lives Matter” signs gathered on the corner of Fremont and Main streets Friday evening as Kesha Bush walked by.

A few steps into her stride, the 42-year-old woman stopped, paused, then pulled her son, Erik, 6, back a few steps to watch.

As the little boy stared, Bush, of California, pulled out her cellphone to snap a photo. Then she leaned down and spoke to him, pointing at the small group.

“I told him they’re protesting for what they believe in,” Bush said. Her son happened to see the news this week, mentioning the Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Dallas shootings.

“I try to explain not everyone’s bad,” she said. “Just like there are bad people, there’s bad cops, too. It could happen to anybody.”

As she and her son walked away, the small group of protesters began marching.

They weaved east down Fremont, as zipline riders shrieked and whizzed by up above. With a few posters and signs, they chanted “No justice, no peace” as some onlookers clapped, some waved and others rolled their eyes.

“All lives matter!” one man yelled.

“How about white lives matter!” one woman yelled.

But the protesters continued on, chanting in unison.

“Who matters? We matter.”

“Who matters? We matter.”

The original group of 10 swelled to about 30. They looped and returned west down Fremont. And in between shouts, they introduced themselves to each other and exchanged phone numbers.

“I feel like I did something positive today,” said Antoinette Fennell, 19, who helped plan the protest with her friend Mierra Green, also 19.

“I felt really terrible yesterday,” Green said. “Even though it’s probably not happening in Las Vegas, it’s happening in America. It bothers us.”

So they went on Facebook, created the event and hoped for the best, Green said. “White lives do matter; it’s just the black lives we’re focusing on right now.”

The Metropolitan Police Department expected the protest and staffed accordingly, spokesman Jesse Roybal said. But no one in the group was stopped by officers, who — in pairs — monitored the march.

Roybal said the protest was a “safe time to voice their opinions lawfully and legally.”

The group ended their march at Las Vegas City Hall, 495 Main St., where the protest erupted into a series of frustrated shouts.

“Stop taking our fathers!”

“Our sons!”

“Our brothers!”

“Our husbands, boyfriends!”

“Our families!”

Then the emotions turned into discussion.

“We need to put our guns down, too, and stop killing each other,” one woman said to the group.

“United we stand, divided we fall,” another chimed in.

As the sun set and the group began filtering out, a woman urged everyone to register to vote and “make sure you let your voice be heard.”

One woman, Olivia, 54, of Oakland, smiled as she watched pairs hug, take photos and vow to meet up again.

“I’m so glad we can be peaceful about this,” she said.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find @rachelacrosby on Twitter.