toward asian americans throughout our history and fueled by the pandemic and the racist hate that has been spewed about it. there's a lot to learn about the motivation behind the attack that the alleged killer has blamed on some sort of sexual addiction. what we know according to the study of hate, there's a larger issue of race in in america and the white supremacist propaganda fueling it in an all time high. there's a fear in the communities of color of being vi victimized or falsely aaccused and so many have stories to tell about what they face daily. we will look at the stories and see what it will take to change the climate of feel, to stop this and stand together against hate. we begin tonight with my c co-anchors for the hour with stories of their own. you have covered the emotional moments on air in the occurs of reporting the story. what has it been like for you as an asian america, seeing it play out and reporting on it. >> anderson, it's been painful and it's been deeply personal. you know, just a tufew days agoi paid a visit to the two spa scenes in atlanta, as a resident of atlanta and a member of the asian-american community and a few things stuck out. firstly, i saw a lot of youngpeople of asian decent coming to the scene, many of them crying for strangers they have never met before. they were kneeling and bowing at the make-shift memorials and it was a familiar sight to me, in our culture, in the korean culture, you bow in respect to your elders and ancestors graves. i felt this collective pain that our community is really feeling right now. and it reminded me of this word, it's a kree -- it's a korean word called han, it's deeply sorrow, grief and anger that they feel because of injustices and it has come from a long history of being invaded and depressed. the feeling of han was palpable. i heard someone saying is it a fair thing for an asian-american to cover the shootings? absolutely it's a fair thing, and it's the only way to do it. i know as a journalist, i'm supposed to be objective. but i'm also human and asian-american and i'm an asian-american woman and that is an asset. when i got to the scene, immediately i was in tune. i was aware of fear that this community, my community has been facing for the past year and i'm aware of the immigrant, the asian immigrant experience where there's language barriers and i was thinking about the families when law enforcement arrived. you know, did they have the resources, were they able to effectively communicate to police what they needed to in the traumatic moment. you know, i know the asian immigrants feel dismissed often because of the language barrier and lastly i thought about the immigrant mentality that i'm very much a pa part of, i was raised by my korean immigrant parents and that we should be quietly working hard, keep our heads down. and by so many accounts that is what the women were doing. and that did not prevent them from being killed that day. >> i have to say, so much of what you are saying resonates with me in a deep way. and i know, the asian-american, pacific islander community is hurting right now. and a very visceral raw way given everything that you have been through. not just the past couple of weeks. really are for the past year plus. and beyond that. i want you to know, and the others who are feeling that deep, deep pain right now, that you are not alone. and i think a lot of what you said resonated with me, because other people of color. my latino brothers and sisters have experienced some of that too, particularly this sense of being treated or looked at as other. and i think i personally is have been very fortunate. perhaps because of the color of my skin, being lighter. perhaps i don't speak with an accent, i have been able to escape the worst of it. the vitriol the violence, i have experienced racism. perhaps a more casual racism. i can tell a story about when i was a young reporter, and i was reporting out of the scene of a wild fire in northern idaho, very rural area and this was in the middle of nowhere, and a local person came and drove up to our truck and asked for my name and i told him, anna cab cabrera, and he said, cabrera, where are you from? and i said, colorado. but, you know, i live in spokane now. he said, no, no, a cabrera. and i casually said, oh, well, i have mexican heritage, my father's name. and he said, oh, you are a beaner. and i don't really remember how i reacted to him, but i remember thinking, wow, like, the way he said it was so nonchalan te, it was not with ill-intent, so it seemed. i did not feel threatened in any way, it was so casual that he used the term and felt it was normal. and it taught me a lot of people are ignorant. and i thought it really showed that he was ignorant and perhaps people are ignorant because they have not had as much experience with diverse communities and people of color, and for him, with people who, you know, have hispanic heritage, and i think that's one of the things that is important about the conversation that we are having is an opportunity for us to learn from each other, and to create greater understanding. >> you and i have had conversations. i don't know if you remember this, it's been some time now, where you were filling in on the weekend show, and we were trading, i guess, racist war stories of some of the things we have faced in our careers. this was before the recent killings in atlanta, this was before the previous president committed to his racism related to the pandemic. and i bring up the time because after the killing of george floyd, and the country started to acknowledge some of the systemic racism and the disparities facing black americans, black people were frustrated saying we have been telling you this for years. for decades. do you feel that, that same frustration that you have been or the asian american community in the country has been trying to tell this story and not until this big, bold, exclamation point of the tragedy is anybody really listening? >> how sad is it, victor, you are right, how sad is it that it took a mass shooting for us to have a conversation that racism does indeed exist against asians. we talk so much, i know we have with heard the word invisible so many times in the media and from talking heads, you know, discussing asian americans' experiences with racism. but that's the reality. right? we haven't had the platform to talk about what we go through on a regular basis. but now, i'm heartened by the fact that i'm seeing so many of my asian-american brothers and sisters starting to speak out about their experiences. i'm getting messages literally every single day. people telling me, oh, my gosh, the other day i was walking down the street and somebody yelled at me, go back to china. these things happen every single day and people are just learning about it now. >> do you feel it's worse because of the pandemic and the rhetoric around the virus coming from china and people in power calling it the china virus or kung flu? i know when i have heard that i cringe, because for me, it has been like a flashback to what we heard around immigration in 2019. and we heard this otherization, this demonization of people of hispanic heritage calling, you know, mexicans an infestation. calling it an invasion and then we see those types of wofrds echoed in the white supremacist that went on a rampage in walmart, that he was targeting mexicans and he was worried about a hispanic invasion and i thought about it in my reaction and how i'm processing in what is happening in the asian american community because of all the rhetoric around the pandemic. what is it like? is it worse for you now? >> absolutely. words matter like you say, right? and it's definitely emboldened the closet racists, or the racists that were not empowered to get violent or harass asian-americans. i fell they came out this past year because they have a scapegoat. when you see videos of elderly asian americans being lit on fire. one elderly man was taking a walk in the bay area and he was violently pushed to the ground and he died. why is this happening? and why are people feeling empowered to do it with impunity, and it goes back to the whole invisiblity idea that asians, there's an misconception out there that asians don't deal with racism. we too are people of color. we too experience racism. and we are talking about it now. the problem is, there's, it's two-fold. we bear responsibility because of our culture, and we need to come out of our shell, we need to start speaking up as uncomfortable as it is, as much ask it goes against the things that we were taught. but the other aspect is our society. the fact that there has been a long history of racism against asians, hasn't been taught in our schools. >> yeah. everybody stand by, we want to dig more in to the topic. particularly the history that you are talking about and the ripple affects of that today, what it means to be asian in america, and we have that. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the mass killings in atlanta are the nightmare that so on many asian americans feared was coming. >> they started beating me up. they started haditting my face, and kicking me. >> reporter: unprovoked two young male attackers jumped him in korea town, breaking his nose, the l.a.p.d. is investigating it as a hate crime t the attackers stole nothing but said this while they struck him. >> they started calling me chinese virus, ching chong, chink. >> reporter: what did you think when you heard them saying those thing this is? >> i will be honest, i'm used to on -- used to it all his life. captured on cameras across the country. in san francisco, attackers jumped a asian man in a laundry mat. and another walked up behind a 91-year-old man and threw him to the ground. in new york, a 61-year-old man was slashed cheek to cheek on the subway. this elderly woman in san francisco said a man punched her in the eye. she said that she fought back. ♪ ♪ happy birthday grand pa. >> reporter: but this man did not have a chance to fight. he was on a daily walk in the bay area neighborhood when an unprovoked attacker ran across street. >> he got injury very bad by his brain bleeding. and he never wake up again. i never see him again. >> the trends are clear, our reports a indicate that anti-asian racism is on the uprise. >> reporter: russell jung of stop aapi hate said while only a few make headlines his group has tracked 3800 incidents since march of last year. while he cite's president trump's rhetoric. >> with the terrible china virus. i can name, kung flu. >> this racism has been going on for centuries and it has opinion resurrected during the covid-19. >> reporter: racism, embedded in u.s. history. in 1882, the u.s. enacted the chinese exclusion act. as depicted in the newspaper, they were the first racial group legally barred from entering the u.s. >> all persons of japanese decent are required to register. >> reporter: during world war ii the u.s. government imprisoned all of japanese decent. americans denied their basic rights and possessions because of their race. and the justices system has failed asian americans in the past. two white men in detroit beat vincent chin to death in the 80s, blaming the victim for the u.s. auto industry. the killers never spent a night in prison. >> am i exposed to bow to say hello? i like these watches are they hot? >> reporter: in popular culture, turning asians in to a joke or insult is common. seen on television. or heard on congress woman grace mang's office voicemail that she shared on twitter. >> you look like a chinese virus, you fat slob, or maybe kung flu. >> reporter: it's the message that you don't belong, you can never belong. he was hin the air force for for years and after the attack, he feels he is not welcome in the country he served. >> i feel hurt because i have love for all people, but unfortunately people don't feel the same about my race. and it hurts me a lot, so -- >> the stories you shared are just hadisgusting. we are both moms and my kids have started to ask about my identity, are your children asking questions and what do you tell them what about is happening right now? >> it's a really difficult conversation. especially in california. i live in los angeles. my kids go to a los angeles public school. and it is, predominantly kids of color. black, asian and latino, that is who makes up the los angeles public schools. so, for them, diversity, kids of different colors, mixed race kids. because my kids are biracial, it is something that is just normal. their teachers now have made what's been happening to asian people across the country part of the lesson plan. they need to talk about it. and so, as parents, we is to bring up the conversation, something you don't want to do. but that certainly black families have been having these conversations for a long time with their children. but there are going to be people who do not like you because of the way you look. and it is just a fact. and it's something that you need be aware of. don't be afraid of it. but you have to be aware of on it. >> thank you, for sharing your sorry and your wonderful reporting. we appreciate it. joining us now and an advocate, for civil rights of all stripes. the host of this is life here on cmn, my old friend and long time colleague, going back to early 20s, i think, lisa, and maybe you were younger. lisa ling joins us now. lisa, you said that you grew up with racism and i heard you talk about it. has the past year been different since the pandemic? >> well, certainly, anderson, when the pandemic took root in this country, i started to receive is really ugly messages, blaming me and my people for bringing the coronavirus to the country and some were really, really vicious. even wishing harm on my family and my kids. but, if i am being honest and the young man in the video said, i and most asian americans have experienced these kinds of micro aggressions and aggressions for most of our lives. i was literally teased every single day throughout high school and it was not malicious, but because i was different, because there were so few asians it gave kids a reason to tease me. anderson, you mentioned where you and i started in journalism, we started a show called channel 1 news and you and i shared an office, and we were in our early 20s. i don't know if you know this, but when we were at channel 1, rolling stone magazine chose me one year as their hot reporter. and it was such a moment of excitement and joy for me. it was such an honor. and one day, someone had cut out, someone in our office had cut out that picture of me in the article and wrote yeah, right, over the hot reporter, and drew slanted eyes over my eyes. >> wow, i had no idea. >> and put it in my -- and someone put it in my mailbox. and i didn't tell anybody about it because i knew that once i walked out of my little office, that anyone who i interacted with could have been that person who put that in my mailbox and so, i just, i compartmentalized it and did not tell anyone and kept it inside like a good asian girl does. amara and some of the other people who have spoken have talked about how we kind of keep our heads down. so, it's, this moment out of this crisis, it's so interesting and comforting to hear the stories of so many other people who have gone through these things our whole lives. and you know, asians have been scapegoated throughout the countries history or at least as soon as asians first appeared here in america. and our country has done a good job of scapegoating people who are considered others and it can happen in an instant. and we think back on 9/11 when muslims were scapegoated, when the economy starts going south, latin americans are are es scap scapegoated, black americans are scapegoated for so many things. gay americans in the cold war were accused of, you know, of being communists. so, this is, this is a kind of a moment of reckoning for so many of us to recognize these trends that have happened throughout u.s. history. so, that maybe once and for all. you can ryetry and stop it. >> thank you for sharing our stories. i can relate, i know george can relate, in terms of being made fun of your entire life and being ashamed to talk about it. the fact that we are talking about it. george, to you, i mean, you experienced anti-asian racism in a way very few people today can relate to. you and your family were rounded up and sent to an internment camp. i'm curious to know, gonchlg, when you see what is happening now, 80 years later, what is going through your mind? >> there's the same echos, we see people being attacked. after pearl harbor, this country was swept up byterror, and by looking at people that looked like the people that bombed pearl harbor, with fear, and suspicion and outright hatred, and unfortunately our leaders of our country then were being led by the masses. the hysterical racist masses. every politician, the mayor of los angeles, fletcher bowr a an made the statement, no matter how many generations they are here, they are still going to be japs, and the president of the united states, a great man, franklin delinor roosevelt, in the 30s, told the people being crushed by the key presentation. that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. but even that great man. proved that he was not infallible. he got swept up in the hysteria, and on february 1942, he signed executive order 9066 which ordered all japanese americans to be rounded up with no charges and no trial, due process, the cent areral pillar of our justi system disappeared. we were rounded up and imprisoned in prison camps. machine guns pointed at us, century towers. i remember it vividly. as a matter of fact. i began school in the swamps of arkansas in one of those prison camps. my schoolhouse was a black tar paper barracks and we started the school every morning with the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i could see the century tower outside my window as i repeated the words, with liberty w, and justices for all. what is happening right now, all the terror, and it's horrific, it's very resonant, the only difference i think, not the only difference, for one thing the president of the united states is a genuine leader. last week, he made that powerful speech, this is unamerican. this anti-asian hatred is intolerable and it has to stop. and the other positive thing is asian and asian american perspective is on the media. the media back when we were in prison was against us. but today, we have all these voices. >> yeah. >> journalists, professional journalists talking from their vantage point. >> george, you raise so many good points. back to you, lisa, you have done a lot of reporting on these asian massage parlors and i know you found that the women are some of the most marginalized people in our society. there's so much fetesizing and stereo typing of asian-american women, i am sure we could trade stories for hours about that. can you talk about how it contributes to violence against asian american women? >> well, i have seen so many people post on social media, you know, they were, you know, involved in the sex industry, or they -- i mean, just that, that assumption alone is such a mischaracterization given that we don't really have much information about these women's lives. and you know, i did a piece for "this is life" last season about the massage parlors and so many of the women, had he don't speak english very well. they have found that this is their best opportunity to be able to make a living and support their families or send money back overseas. theically really are marginalized, very often they don't live in the cities where they are working. they might spend three months in one city and then move to another city for another three months with no days off at all. so, they really are women who have been living in the margins and you know, the, the law enforcement taking this killer's word for it that it was not racially motivated, to me, it's just completely irresponsible. and i just also, i want to just talk quickly about the significance of president biden's proclamation, condemning the violence in atlanta. and lowering the flags at the white house and all federal buildings to half-mast. america has had a long history of persecuting and scapegoating asian-americans. knowing the flag in front of the white house where the president of the united states resides are flying half-mast to me, it's such a powerful symbolic gesture that really honors the lives of the women who, who have lived in the margins. but who in so many ways have carried the weight of asian american history on their shoulders without even knowing it. >> hm-mm. thank you so much. really fascinating. i appreciate it. coming up next, you may recall an encounter with a black man out bird watching and a white woman walking her dog, it was captured on camera, and what it revealed was stunning. we will talk to him next. and tree of life. what's like to know they are targeted because of who they are. [music: “forever young”] ♪let's dance in style, let's dance for a while♪ ♪heaven can wait we're only watching the skies♪ ♪hoping for the best but expecting the worst♪ ♪are you gonna drop the bomb or not?♪ ♪forever young♪ ♪i want to be forever young♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back, this hour is about honest conversation, but also looking for solutions. to that end, we asked you via twitter what can communities do in the fight against hate. we are featuring some of the answers at the bottom of the screen. last may, you may remember an encounter that made headlines a black man in central park was bird watching and confronted by a white woman who then called the cops on him, and said he was threatening her. he recorded what was happening on the cell phone. >> i'm asking you to stop. >> please don't come close to me. >> taking a picture, i'm calling the cops. >> please, call the cops. please, call the cops. >> i'm going tell them there's an african-american man threatening my life. >> tell them whatever you like. >> there's an african-american man thrrecording me, and threatening my life and my dog. send the coulds immediately. >> that later was charged but was dismissed after she completed education and therapy classes. we are joined by the man you heard in the video. christian cooper. the issue of races and exchanges with, like that, has always felt for me like in case of emergency, break glass. i mean, honest conversation. i know that i'm in a situation like that, the other person has the hammer to break that glass, if they ever feel too uncomfortable or if it's a little too adversarial, when i heard her say that an african-american man is threatening my life. that call would not be less urgent if she said a man is threatening my life. she broke the glass. how do you describe that awareness? >> well, clearly she was trying to get an advantage in our confrontation and she went to a dark place. she tapped in to a dark vein in american history to do it. and the most interesting, interesting thing i think in all of that is who she says it to. she said i'm going to call the police and i'm going to tell them that an african-american had man is threatening my life. i know i'm african-american, i have known it for years. so why is she he will telling me this? she is doing it to racially intimidate me and try to get an upper hand in the confrontation. so it's unfortunately not surprising that she went to that place, because it is a very deep and strong vein in america. but it is unfortunate and we have to try and root it out. >> yeah, for as valuable as this conversation about fear in communities of color is, we should also talk about the fear of communities of color. black men, three times as likely as whites to be killed in incidents with police. we have watched so many videos like yours of white women calling the police on black people doing innocuous things. being in a coffee shop. going to a university. we heard from the insurrectionists on the sixth wanting to take their country back. can did you believe that if police showed up that they would believe you? >> i have no idea. i don't like to speculate about that. it could have gone in any direction. you know, they could have gotten there and thrown me to the ground and cuffed me or worse or they could have gotten there and said, what is up with her, she is unhinged. there's no way to know what would have happened. i think you are right that it's not just about being afraid, it's about being people being made afraid and i think that's one thing that has not been mentioned yet. is that there's people in politics who have made fear their platform. fomenting fear is there business now, that's their sum total of staying in power. we have to recognize that, and we have to as individuals push back on it from some, if they are bringing fear from the top down, we have to push back from the bottom up and say, no, we are not going stand for that. we are going to do what we can, to make sure that that fear is not spread. >> yeah. you know, what i had to be reminded of and i think a lot of people may not remember is that this incident in central park happened just a few hours before the killing of george floyd. same day, in may, i believe it was may 25th of 2020. once you heard what happened in minneapolis, did that take on some additional importance for you? >> how could it not? >> hm-mm. >> it just, what happened to me was important in that, it let people see what was, what you and i know, but a lot of, i think, white folk, other folk did not necessarily understand. didn't believe. so, it was important in that respect. but in terms of its consequences, you know, it pales in comparison to what happened to george floyd, what happened to on ahmad arbery, what happened to breonna taylor. it's not new, it's something that has been going on for decades, for centuries. this country has a tendency to, in particular with african-americans, the tendency, we are by the nature of our brown skin, we can be identified as a menace and that is baked in to the dna of the country. we have to find a way to root it out. it's costing lives. our lives. and we can fix it. it's up to other people to fix it. >> christian, you mentioned that the expectation or the thought that black people, black men specifically are an inherent threat will, innate danger, it seems that every time there's an incident involving race, we have these discussions. and these events continue. talk about the work that has to happen and who has to do it to change what we are seeing? >> well, again, if we are talking specifically about, you know, african-american equals menace, that is not something african-americans can fix. that's something that you know, other people have to fix who are not african-american. they have got to pull themselves back and say, why am i reacting like this? why am i having this response to this person at this moment. they have to hit the pause but skpo on and that is hard to do. but you have to hit the pause button and think, why is this happening and why am i reacting this way and is there something else going on here subco subconsciously that i'm not aware of and then you have to make yourself aware of it and rethink your responses. that's a start. it's not easy. and honestly, we are all letting ourselves off the hook a little bit. because, you know, if we are, if we talk beyond the fear of african-americans and we talk about, you know, what happened to the asian-americans in georgia, there's an othering that goes on in all directions. because there's people who are fomening it from the top, who want us to be fearful and want us to fear each other. it's up to us at the bottom, us ordinary folk to push back and say, okay, i'm not going to other that asian american. i'm not going to other that black person. i'm not going to other that latina person or transperson, or gay person, that's the work we have to do. >> our face, how we face racism is different. it's not the same. but we are all facing it. so, we should not otherize other communities and we have some work to do independent of people in power, white americans, we have some bi-directional corrections and healing that we need to do within minority communities ask well. christian cooper thank you so much. >> victor, thank you. and christian as well. we have been reporting on hate groups, take a look at an encounter that she had with a neonazi in 2018. >> and therefore, we have the possibility of becoming a minority in our own country. a possibility of becoming a minority in my own country. >> you are afraid of being me. >> it's my country. >> he invited me to talk, but when he does not like the conversation, he explodes. >> get the -- out of here. now! >> joining us is sarah, and sarah, as we just mentioned, you have been reporting on hate groups since 2016, and clearly in that clip, you have no problem challenging them as a reporter. you went toe to toe with hate. personally, what's it been like covering a story like that? >> that particular story, that was daniel burnside and he was in rural pennsylvania. and you know, i had heard about him and how he was affecting the community there. there was an article written and the community felt as ifthey were all being colored with his same ideals, it was an interesting dicotomy there, small town in pennsylvania, and he just exploded. like out of nowhere. he said, yeah, i will talk to you. and we were like, okay. when i started to push back, he then exploded. he didn't like that every time he would say something that was just either patently false or extremely, exceedingly racist i would say that's not true and then he would, you know, it would sort of elevate his ire and anger. but, it may seem like a very strange and uncomfortable position to be in as a person of, like myself, who is mixed race who is often dispised by the extremists that i speak to solely for the existence that i exist in the world. it's equal parts brutal in my soul to do know that such hatred exists still in 2021 because of the slightest difference in dna and important for me to understand how that is still around. how they came to feel this way in a world where you can have an education, you have an entire world in front of you on the computer. but what i know when i'm talking to them is that while they may hate me, i have the power to not hate them. and i don't hate them. for whatever potential messed up psychology i might have, that i want to know, i want them to know they cannot make me hate had them. and i see their hatred and fear of a changing america. but with all of those feelings, i also see their humanity. is it difficult? yes. do i leave sometimes afraid? of course. i think of my family. i think of the fact that some of the folks have my phone number and i have been doing this for quite a few years now. some of these extremists have been extremely violent. and then on the other end of that, when i report on it and try to explain who the people are, i get -- i'm endlessly getting my preverbial teeth kicked in, because readers and viewers say, leave them under a rock, don't give them a platform and i kind of thought that too for a while, and i know that now, and you know this very well. many of the extremist groups, racists, they have a platform already. they are speaking to the masses without anybody challenging their notions and that's why i feel like i needed to step in. but it is treacherous. it's a treacherous and fine line to walk. >> yeah, you are so right on so many levels. and you know, this country is facing a racial reckoning, and we still have to face our demons. sarah, thank you so much. sure. >> yeah, coming up, how race fueled shootings have left a painful toll for the survivors and families years later. we will talk to those who has are lost so much in mass killings around the country ask our cnn special continues. this is the sound of an asthma attack... that doesn't happen. this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is a different kind of asthma medication. it's not a steroid or inhaler. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's one maintenance dose every 8 weeks. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils. fasenra is designed to target and remove them. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. this is the sound of fasenra. ask your doctor about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. ♪ ♪ welcome back to the cmn special hour, titled afraid, fear in americas communities of color. we want your voices heard and asked you to weigh in on twitter. what can communities be an ally against hate. investigators are silva trying to find a motive for the mass shoot engine a grocery store and the mass killings in kgeorgia ld to gatherings across the country calling for an end to racism. and three people help remind us how hate fuels so many attacks and now the pain from the prejudice can stay forever. andrew torres lost two family members. rabbi jeffrey myers serves at the synagogue where 11 people were shot dead. and jennifer pinkny's house was the pastor at the church in charleston, he was one of 9 that were killed. rabbi, i will start with you. 11 people were killed in the attack on your synagogue, i remember talking to you in the days after. what has it been like to carry that with you every day. to carry the knowledge that there are americans out there that view you, jews, as a problem that needed to be solved somehow with violence? >> well, thank you for having me, anderson, it's a great question. i grew up with anti-semitism as a child, so it's not new to me. nor is it new to jews in america. in some regard, it's the world's oldest disease. it's been in existence since jewss have been in existence, which days back millenia. it's not new. what is different is that an individual will resort to such an extreme way to express their hatred of the semitism exists though. i wish i can say it is something that's not. >> andrew, after you lived through the trauma of losing two family members, two of them in that horrific el paso shooting and now you are stuck, you know, in this space walking around with that fear and that grief living inside of you. how do you zrdescribe the i am hakimpact it had on you and the community? >> i, myself, have irish and mexican. i was raised here and i have a deep sense of pride and love for this community. i know many people who are from here they feel the exact same way. when the el paso shooting happened, what it essentially did was burst this bubble of protection for us where we understood despite us having different complexions of skin and some of us being more indigenous than others or whatever it may be that in our community we felt like we are apart of one. when the shooting happened like i said it bursts this bubble and the sense of protection that one would feel i can imagine as the rabi felt when he went to his synagogue. it is a sense of safety that will never be the same. >> i have to ask you with this surge we are seeing of migrants again at the border right now and a focus returning to immigration, do you worry about or have fear of another attack on the latino community? are you looking over your shoulder? >> i void large crowd and walmart. i avoid going to any place that gives me any sort of reminder of what had happened here. i even just for a second being near a walmart gives me anxiety and i have fear in me. that's something people could tell me oh you should not live in fear but we li ve in a county that we have mass shootings every week. our government taking proper measures to ban aseawall weapons that have caused so much destructions in our country. i see with the biden administration talking with measures of better background checks and limiting people getting these guns. if we made it harder for people to get ar-15, as hard it is for people to get mental health help in a crisis then we would not be so fearful. i would not have to be so afraid especially being in a community if i knew something is being done with these weapons being readily available in our society. >> i was in charleston after that shooting and there were people everywhere bringing flowers, candles in front of the church and you said in an interview a couple of years ago that immediately after the shooting there were a lot of people around and your phone was constantly ringing but after a while everything just stopped and people moved on. almost six years now, how are you feeling after this as now becomes silent for so many people? >> well, you know, after hearing about and i am doing all right but when ever you hear about all the mass shootings that's continuing to take place, it takes me back to that actual spot, it takes me back to mother m emm emm emmanuel, it takes me back all of us waiting at the hotel hearing about our lovered ones. it takes me back when the coroner told me that clemente was one of the deceased. the mass shootings continue to happen. it is like uconn constantly relive it. years may have passed but you still can't help but to think about your own self as to what happened to you and your heart goes out to those individuals that have currently lost someone. you understand what they're going through, you understand just feeling just kind of lost and out of it when you find out your loved ones have been brutally killed. and until you walked in our shoes, you don't fully get it. you don't fully understand the grief of it. you have to have been there and walked to understand what someone is going through. th that's my main focus. >> to hear all your story is so heartbreaking. rabbi myers when you look at crimes, with 2020 having the most hated numbers since the fbi started keeping records of that in the 1990s. how do this get better do you think? >> i think communities that are being threatened regardless of their religion of color, sexual orientation will need to work together because there is far more that unites us than separates us. we need to work together to be able to help each other to work through the challenges of living in america. america has not been a welcoming immigrant. it does not mean it can't become something better. it is still democracy and trog. any way we can still work together, all of our communities to be able to find commonalities and make our country a better country because it does have a potential. >> andrew, i wonder what's your message to people out there who views you as others as latinos and lack americans and asians, somehow are the others. >> even multi-racial people are the others, right? me, i have the skin on the game according to these white supremacists, it does not matter to them. for me it is really something we are going to move forward and in this world we are going to work with one another exactly how the rabbi was saying. he's so right in saying that. it is ponly going to be an issu that we address once we all come together and understand this is something that we are all facing together and this is something that the violence and the hatred and the xenophobia and everything is tied together and what academics calling it intersectional way. everything is connected. once again we do something that has to do with gun reform to send a strong message to the rest of the country that we can no longer afford to lose anymore lives regardless of what group they belong to. we can't no longer afford to have another mass shooting and being televised again and again. >> there is something that needs to be done on a large scale level between every single one of us. that's something that'll only happen like continuing conversations like this one. >> andrew torres, rabbi jeffery myers and jennifer, thank you so much for your time. i want to thank amara walker and ana cabrera. thank you so much for the discussion and conversation. that does it for this special hour. for more resources in the fight of hate go to cnn.com/impact. the news continues here on cnn. at the top of the hour, i am don lemon, so glad you can join us because we have important things we can talk about right now. that's jim crow's 2.0. alive and well in 2021. georgia's governor is signing a bill that's nothingless than on the assault of the right to vote. a black woman is arrested for knocking on the door. >> why does she have to stand back? >> why is the governor trying to sign somethingn

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