The discordant note came when Melecio spoke of her feelings in the aftermath of the killings. Looking out over the crowd, she said she was disappointed that the Latino heritage of many of the victims was being lost in media coverage and commemorative events.
A lot of those names had something in common what they had in common were a lot of them were Latino, Melecio said. I was really nervous to get up here because theres a lot of white people in the crowd. And that wasnt a joke.
The contributions of blacks and Hispanics to the movement for equal rights in the homosexual and transgender community are being overshadowed and co-opted by whites, Melecio said.
It is like, who are you really here for? she said.
Several responses came from the crowd.
Were here for everybody, one person shouted.
Daniel Brizendine and his husband, Carl Brizendine, left the vigil as Melecio was speaking. Daniel Brizendine said he has lived in Orlando, been a customer at Pulse and knows people who go there regularly. Melecio was wrong to bring up race in the way she did, he said.
He has been marching for rights since 1982, he said. Now all of a sudden I am going to be white-shamed, and I am not going to be white-shamed just because I was born with white skin.
