The acting Los Angeles City Council president has called for two more members to step down in the wake of a leaked tape of three colleagues engaged in a racist conversation against white, black, and Asian residents over redistricting.
The audio went viral on Monday and caused the resignation of City Council President Nury Martinez and labor leader Ron Herrera after President Joe Biden and other high-profile politicians told them to leave office.
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The comments were in response to redistricting last year that gave preference to the black community over Hispanics and how the trio could cement power.
Their apologies were slow to arrive, and Martinez, the instigator of the conversation, didn’t quit until Wednesday. Now, acting President Mitch O’Farrell is asking colleagues Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo to follow her out the door.
“What our jobs are is to put our personal feelings and our personal ambitions and our egos to the side as elected officials and do what’s best for the city,” O’Farrell said Thursday.
He canceled a council meeting set for Friday after watching a furor erupt with residents descending on a Tuesday meeting, briefly postponing the event before blasting the three members during the open comments segment.
“We know that the upset and the unrest that’s out there requires that we just keep listening to people,” he said.
De Leon has the most to lose because he had aspirations of being the next mayor but was shut out during the primary, which saw Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and billionaire developer Rick Caruso move on to the general election. De Leon is a former state senator.
“The white folks will cut you in a heartbeat, and when it’s them, they figure out some s***,” de Leon said on the tape, referring to a previously ousted city official who had the support of Hispanics.
This was preceded by a Martinez comment disparaging white people.
“It’s not us. It’s the white members on this council that will motherf*** you in a heartbeat,” she said.
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The covert tape was made last year of Martinez, de Leon, and Cedillo discussing carving up white and black districts. The trio made comments about white Councilman Mike Bonin’s black son, comparing him to a monkey, a purse, and a Civil War statue. The group also declared that the district attorney was “with the blacks” and discussed who could be counted on to support Hispanics over the black community.
A state attorney general investigation has started into whether Los Angeles redistricts along racial lines, which is illegal.
