LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
And we reached out to other members of the Latino community to listen to what they are feeling right now. Here are some of their stories.
DIEGO TORRES: My name is Diego Torres (ph), and I live in Los Angeles, born and raised in Mexico, moved to the U.S. when I was 13. It really makes it difficult not to ask yourself, like, why? Like, what did we do? Because there's no comparison to the knowledge that someone is willing to kill you (laughter) because you just are different. I feel like I don't have a choice but to have to be on my toes and alert. And it's exhausting.
LUPE GASPAR CARRIER: My name is Lupe Gaspar Carrier (ph). I am from Rotan, Texas. It feels scary. I don't feel I'm comfortable anymore with the color of my skin. Since the shooting happened in El Paso, we've had my grandchildren and we wanted to - they wanted to go get something to eat, so we went to a restaurant. And I told the waitress - I said I want to be seated towards the back where I could see the exit because I wanted to be able to get out in case someone would happen to the restaurant.
NANCY HERNANDEZ: Hello. My name is Nancy Hernandez (ph). I love El Paso because it was my home, and it is the home of my family. And many of the things I fight for and work for, the social justice I want to see, are because of what I've learned and experienced there, the biculturalism where speaking more than English and being more than American are the norm, not the exception. (Speaking Spanish).
OSCAR VILLALON: I am Oscar Villalon (ph) from San Francisco, Calif. This is the incredible thing - we were singled out. And it's a particularly desolating feeling. But then what goes beyond that? Yes, we're feeling horrible right now, as we should, and we're grieving and we're feeling afraid. This will not be the end of it because we really can't control how white America is going to react. That's for them to figure out. But we can certainly think about how we're going to react and how we're going to go forward. And to my fellow Americans, (speaking Spanish) if we're your brothers and sisters, your in-laws, your cousins, your nephews, your blood, how are you going to leave us outside the house?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And we thank everyone who shared their story with us. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.