Councilman Mike Bonin gets emotional as he addresses general public at City Council meeting - Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times
Protests, Anger, Tears Roil LA City Council Meeting over Leaked Racist Recordings
By Benjamin Oreskes, David Zahniser, Julia Wick, Dakota Smith, & Libor Jany
Anguish and anger spread through the Los Angeles City Council chambers Tuesday as members of the audience lashed out about the surreptitious recording on which Councilmember Nury Martinez is heard making racist remarks and denigrating colleagues.
The meeting came shortly after Martinez announced she was taking a leave of absence. On Monday, she stepped down from her post as council president.
Audience members who gathered in the council chambers yelled that the meeting should not take place until Martinez and fellow councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo resigned. They are also heard on the recording, which was first reported Sunday by The Times.
The clamor inside the council chambers was momentarily frozen by tearful remarks from Councilmember Mike Bonin, who said he was contemplating how he would explain the racist remarks made by Martinez to his young son when he gets older.
Martinez had said Bonin handled his young Black son as though he were an “accessory" and said of the son, “Parece changuito,” or “He’s like a monkey." As she said this, De León and Gill Cedillo laughed and made wisecracks.
"I take a lot of hits, and I know I practically invite a bunch of them. But my son? It makes my soul bleed,” Bonin said through tears. “Asking for forgiveness is a good first step. Well, it's a second step because first you must resign and then ask for forgiveness.”
"I know I can never really know or comprehend the real weight of the daily relentless anti-Black racism my son is going to face, but man, I know the fire that you feel when someone tries to destroy Black boy joy. Man, it's a rage," Bonin added.
That brought tears and jeers from audience members who made lacerating comments about the embattled elected officials. Martinez was absent; De León and Cedillo left the chambers shortly after the comments began.
"We could not have them sitting amidst this family meeting because they have soiled their seats. Their seats are poisonous. The seat of Nury is poisonous," Pastor Thembekila Crystal Coleman said during the public comment period.
Assemblyman Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) noted that, like Bonin's son, he was adopted by a White family and is Black. He called for the resignations of the elected officials caught on tape.
"We need these resignations before we can move forward," he said. "But trust me there will be a healing because everybody in this room and everybody in this city wants that healing, but we can't have it without accountability."
The leaked recordings elicited outrage across Los Angeles, with demands for Martinez's resignation coming Monday from Mayor Eric Garcetti, mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, Senator Alex Padilla and numerous members of the City Council.
"This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making," Martinez said in a statement Tuesday. "At this moment, I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders. I am so sorry to the residents of Council District 6, my colleagues, and the City of Los Angeles."
Inside City Hall, dozens of Angelenos chanted and waited with eager anticipation for the doors to the John Ferraro Chambers to open.
When they finally did, people streamed in. Among the group was Sade Elhawary, who with a group of fellow organizers walked in wearing black T-shirts with white text: “I’m with the Blacks” — a reference to Martinez using a profanity to refer to LA County Dist Atty George Gascón and saying he was “with the Blacks.”
“For us it was about not just representing and being proud of being ‘the Blacks,’" she said, making air quotes with her fingers, “but also providing the platform for other people of color to be proud to stand in solidarity with Black people in a way that shouldn’t be denigrated or diminished in the way that she did.”
Before the meeting, the crowd chanted “fuera” — "out" in Spanish — with Councilmembers Cedillo, De León and Martinez’s names. Cedillo and De León were also heard on the tape.
Councilmembers took their seats as thunderous chants of “We’re with the Blacks” and “Shut it down” echoed through the room. Councilmember Bonin sat with his head bowed and hands clasped as the crowd continued to chant. Later after speaking, Bonin slumped in his seat receiving colleagues and members of his staff as he listened to the audience voice their support for him.
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said community activist Morris Griffin, noting that he’s been involved with Los Angeles politics since the aftermath of the 1991 Rodney King beating by LAPD officers.
Voicing an angry frustration echoed by many in the room, Griffin implored the council to change the City Charter to allow the council to force their three colleagues to resign. (Such a change would be a lengthy complex process requiring a public election.)
A host of reforms to how the city conducts its business were proposed Tuesday as the members processed the racist remarks made by their colleagues. Despite her leadership role, Martinez made other disparaging or contentious remarks about some of them during the hourlong conversation. She called Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, who served as her second-in-command and is currently acting president, “a diva.”
He filed a motion asking for reports on what must be done to expand the size of the body and then how they would go about doing redistricting once the council had been expanded.
The goal would be to get a report on the steps “to place a charter reform ballot initiative before the voters of Los Angeles in 2024, with recommendations that ensure representation is fixed to population growth in order to increase the number of the Los Angeles City Council Seats,” the motion from O’Farrell reads.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman proposed an “Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform” to explore “implementing reforms to increase transparency, limit corruption, and make City leadership more representative of our communities — with the aim of restoring the faith of the people of Los Angeles in their city government.”
At one point during the leaked conversation, Cedillo said there were certain councilmembers who do not merit “rescuing” during the redistricting process. He then made clear that he was referring to Raman, who had been fighting to ensure her Hollywood Hills district was not moved to the west Valley.
“She is not our ally. She is not going to help us,” he said.
Before the meeting, a group of religious leaders held a news conference outside City Hall.
"This ends today. This ends right now. I will be here every day until our City Council members step down," said the Rev Rae Huang, who volunteers with Black Lives Matter, appearing with the group roughly an hour before the council meeting.
The leaked audio and its aftermath halted the political rise of Martinez , 49, who in 2019 became the first Latina to hold the powerful position of City Council president — a post she resigned from on Monday.
Martinez represents San Fernando Valley communities including Van Nuys and Sun Valley.
Martinez's remarks were made during an October 2021 meeting over the city's redistricting process with Cedillo, Bonin and Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
She referred to "little short dark people" in Koreatown as “Tan feos” — “They’re ugly.”
Speaking about Gascón, Martinez said, “F— that guy... He’s with the Blacks."
De León, Cedillo and Herrera all also apologized Sunday for their role in the conversation. At one point, De León had appeared to compare Bonin’s handling of his child to Martinez holding a Louis Vuitton handbag. Herrera resigned from his position Monday night.
The leaked audio of Martinez and her colleagues revealed explicit conversations about the council district maps that had recently been proposed by the city’s 21-member redistricting commission.
The once-a-decade redistricting process reshapes the city's 15 council districts and sets off competition among various groups over political power and representation.
Martinez's leave is the latest shake-up at City Hall, which has been rocked by numerous scandals over the last few years. City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted last year on bribery charges, while former City Councilmember José Huizar is awaiting trial on felony charges stemming from downtown development.
Former City Councilmember Mitch Englander was sentenced January 2021 for lying to federal authorities about his dealings with a developer.
Martinez's leave also arrives at a key moment for City Hall. As many as five councilmembers could depart by the end of the year, depending on the outcome of the Nov. 8 election.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
