Following openly racist comments made by Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez last Sunday, the official decided to resign from her position amid strong media pressure.
The conversation remained private for nearly a year until the recording was leaked and revealed, in which Martinez is heard behind closed doors making racist comments, mocking some of his colleagues and their families, and even using crude terms to describe how the city should be politically constituted.
Ahead of the November 8 elections, the leak prompted three of his colleagues to call for his resignation, but candidates backed by Martínez have yet to take a position on what happened.
Among the disparaging remarks made by Martinez was one he said about the African-American son of Councilman Mike Bonin, of whom he said: “He looks like a monkey” – a little monkey – while comparing him to an accessory that his colleague wears “on the side.” “He wears it like this, during Black History month… He wears his little black boy, like on the side.”
According to the leaks, the comments were made during an October 2021 meeting with Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, as well as Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.
Following the scandal, Herrera also announced his resignation on Monday for, he said, having participated in "intolerant and racist" behavior.
The conversations were disclosed by the Los Angeles Times on October 9, which stated that the dialogue was shared on the social network Reddit by a now-suspended user, however, it is not clear who recorded it.
The conversation centered on the maps proposed by the city's redistricting commission and disagreements with them, as well as the need to "ensure that majority-Latino districts do not lose economic assets" in the process, the paper said.
“Mike Bonin has never said shit about Latinos. He will never say shit about us,” De Leon, who is of Guatemalan descent, is heard saying in the audio. He calls Bonin, a white man, “the fourth black councilman.”
"Bonin thinks he's a... black guy," Martínez is heard to agree. And this is followed by the aforementioned comments about his son, to which Cedillo and De León add others.
Martinez adds that the councilman and his partner are raising their son “like a white child,” adding: “This kid needs a few beatings. Let me take him around the corner and I’ll bring him back.”
The council members also made disparaging remarks about the appearance of some residents of the Koreatown neighborhood, who come from the state of Oaxaca and belong to different indigenous communities in Mexico.
"I see a lot of short, dark-skinned people," "I don't know where these people come from, what village they came from, how they got here... So ugly," are some of the phrases heard in the recording.
Following the leaks, reactions from other political figures were not long in coming, such as Senator Alex Padilla ‒who studied with Martínez and has been his ally for a long time‒, mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, council members and other authorities, as well as several organizations, calling for the resignation of Martínez and the others involved in the conversation.
"We are shocked, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs and spoke about her desire to physically harm him. It is vile, abhorrent and completely disgraceful," Bonin and her husband, Sean Arian, said in a statement.
"There is no place for racist language and hateful, inflammatory rhetoric to coexist with the duties of public service," said the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (Naleo) of the United States.
For his part, Martinez assumed responsibility and accepted the facts.
“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I am truly sorry,” he said. “As someone who believes deeply in empowering communities of color, I recognize that my comments undermine that goal.”
The San Fernando Valley native, north of Los Angeles, to Mexican parents originally from Zacatecas, did not clarify whether, in addition to her resignation as Council president, she is also leaving her position as councilwoman.
For his part, Governor Gavin Newsom issued comments regarding the case, where he stated that words matter.
"Words matter, and racist language can do real harm. I'm encouraged that those involved in this have apologized and begun to take responsibility for their actions," Newsom said Monday.
"These comments have no place in our state, nor in our politics. We must all shape our behavior to live up to the best values we fight to protect every day," he added.
With information from the Los Angeles Times and BBC News
This publication was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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