Black religious and community leaders in Los Angeles have called for the resignations of and a criminal investigation into three city council members and a labor leader who were taped having a racist discussion on how to gerrymander various districts to increase Latino power.
Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez announced her resignation as president on Monday amid mounting backlash over leaked audio that featured her making racist remarks. Martinez was caught on tape disparaging the black child of a white member of the City Council as “ese changuito,” which translates to “that little monkey,” among other racial comments.
High-profile members of the black community told the Washington Examiner they were shocked and sickened to hear the recordings after believing the city’s Hispanic leaders were trying to work with them to elevate the standard of living for ethnic groups.
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“I would be shocked if there was not an investigation that should be federal, if not the state,” said Michael Lawson, president of the Los Angeles Urban League, one of the city’s oldest civil rights organizations. “California allows commissions, not elected officials, to design the redistricting. And for her to talk about the changes [to the districts] like these commissions didn’t exist?”
“They are essentially engaging in gerrymandering, which is illegal,” agreed civil rights activist Najee Ali. “They were meeting for personal and political gain.” Lawson said he wondered what else the three council members have said or done that wasn’t on tape and hoped to find out.
Ali organized a press conference Monday with Lawson and a dozen other black leaders to express their outrage and pressure other politicians to call for the resignations. Representatives from the National Action Network and Baptist Ministers Conference were in attendance.
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“I was more hurt and devastated that the most powerful Latino leaders in the city, that I’ve known and worked with over the years and considered them allies, viewed black people in a negative sense,” Ali said. “For them to make racist comments, including calling a black child a monkey, was devastating.”
The offending conversation also included Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Herrera said on the recording that his primary goal was to ensure that the three councilmembers were reelected and compared Bonin’s young son to a prop such as an antebellum statute.
Herrera resigned Tuesday night as the fallout escalated and took a leave of absence Tuesday. Martinez, though she resigned earlier in the day from her role as council president, remains a member. Her initial comments were defensive but she later begged for forgiveness. Others who were reluctant to take a strong stance prior to the press conference included Mayor Eric Garcetti, who later called for the group to step down.
“Stepping down from the council would be the right response by these members in a moment that demands accountability and healing at a time of great pain and deep disappointment,” Garcetti said.
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Lawson said the Urban League has been working hard over the decades to bring groups together, including the Asian community, which was mocked by Martinez in the recording.
“We were able to make the progress we made because we were working arm and arm and not allowing other forces to split us apart,” he said. “For these elected officials, supposed ‘leaders’ in our community, to demonstrate the lack of understanding, necessity, and strength of the coalition is just absurd. More than absurd, it is pushing us backwards.”
