Nury Martinez. (Photo: lacity.gov)
When Will CA’s Elected Leaders Call for Resignations of LA Council Members over Racist Discussion?
These racist statements are far more than thoughtless words from people who constantly talk about the virtues of equity, diversity
By Katy Grimes, October 10, 2022 4:56 pm
Righteous indignation over the racist remarks and derisive statements made by three Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council and a labor official in a conversation October 2021 about their council colleagues is certainly warranted. However, elected Democrat lawmakers and candidates in California should be calling on LA Council President Nury Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León to resign immediately.
Instead, this morning, Council President Nury Martinez resigned as President of the Council, and not from elected office. And her apology was hollow.
Instead we are hearing the media report that there are “calls for resignation,” and we see a lot of finger wagging, Twitter posturing, and social media rant statements – or conspicuous silence.
“We don’t want your thoughts and prayers, we want action,” people on the right are told when they offer condolences and solace after a high profile tragedy. Okay. So where are the calls for action by California’s elected leaders given the vile and hateful remarks by Martinez, Cedillo and de León?
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti? Anything?
How about the 24 elected Assembly members of Los Angeles County? Thoughts?
Have any of the 15 elected State Senators of Los Angeles County suggested immediate resignation of the LA Council members?
These racist statements are far more than careless or thoughtless words – from people who constantly talk about the virtues of equity, diversity, people of color, dignity of communities. Just imagine if it was Republican council members who got caught on this recording making racist remarks about a council colleagues’ adopted child of color. The Globe reported:
“Bonin thinks he’s f—ing black,” Martinez says in the audio. “He handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory. They’re raising him like a little White kid. I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”
Martinez then proceeded to use slurs against the eight-year-old child, saying in Spanish “Parece changuito” or in English, “He’s like a monkey.”
Councilman de León added, “Bonin handles the toddler like when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag. Su negrito, like on the side.”
The Los Angeles City Council has been quite odious for some time now. Three members are under indictment.
Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted on corruption charges.
José Huizar and Mitch Englander, were both implicated in an FBI probe of corruption at City Hall.
Now three more council members are embroiled in this latest racist screed, and could be forced out.
When is enough going to be enough? The Globe doesn’t believe for a nanosecond that the voters of Los Angeles thought they were voting for corrupt or racist representatives. But short of elected “leaders” discovering some testicular fortitude and calling for the latest three to resign, it will be up to the people of Los Angeles.
And what about the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera on the same audio recording?
California Labor Federation leader Lorena Gonzalez had this to say about the racist remarks of the council members:
— California Labor Federation (@CaliforniaLabor) October 9, 2022
We can’t disagree with anything Gonzalez Fletcher said. However, she left out the part where LA County Labor Federation President Ron Herrera should also resign for his part in the conversation. She walked right up to the door, but held back even knocking. It’s just words, which even lack the requisite angry spittle.
Knowing Gonzalez Fletcher as we do, just imagine her reaction if the “offensive and unacceptable anti-black language” had come from white members of the LA City Council, or from local LA Republicans caught on a hot mic. Gonzalez Fletcher would go scorched earth and not stop until the offenders were dragged downtown for public humiliation in the stockade.
The cesspool of LA politics was ardently addressed by Globe contributor Thomas Buckley:
“The scandals, the dysfunction, the incompetence, the dismissiveness, the municipal degradation, the appalling waste, the blatant corruption of Los Angeles is perfectly encapsulated by this – latest – tawdry event.”
“Ironically – considering the previous public progressive political positions they have taken – certain ‘woke’ concepts may actually – for once and only this once – be of assistance in untying this Gordian Knot of civic ick.”
As I write this, more are stepping up: Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes, The LA Public Defenders and LA City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson have called on Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de Leon to resign.
The Los Angeles County Democratic Party is calling on L.A. City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo to resign.
NEW: The Los Angeles County Democratic Party is calling on L.A. City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo to resign. https://t.co/6YChPmGyt7
— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) October 10, 2022
And the NAACP has called on Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de Leon to resign.
The NAACP has called on Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de Leon to resign for their racist remarks.
They need to do so immediately.
— Steve Hilton’s Rebel Base (@CARebelBase) October 10, 2022
Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso has also called for Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de Leon to resign.
California needs to see many more elected leaders do the same.
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Clean house and get rid of all of these vile human beings, let alone Democrat politicians…
But this sort of dehumanizing behavior is a Democrat trait going back to the Civil,War years and beyond..
What did Lyndon Johnson say??.
This is the Democrat Party folks – own up to it…
November is coming – it’s beyond time to clean house, Los Angeles, San Francisco, California and the Nation…
Time to repudiate Democrat racism…and the lies of their lips that betrays the true racism in their hearts and their insatiable lust for power and control…
No votes for D’s in November 2022 – it’s time to take out the TRASH, America….
Actually, it depends if they are democrats or not. Obviously, if they are republicans you would have no choice not to.
Sit back and think of the danger to California if Republicans took those seats. Pretty soon their friends would move in and there goes the neighborhood!
Let’s get real: Does anyone really believe that these Dem politicians or union leaders actually give a rat’s rear end about the crude racist rantings of their fellow Dems? We’ve seen how they routinely IGNORE fellow Dems’ (and even their own) scandals and truly egregious behavior. The most scandal-ridden are still in positions of power after all, maybe most especially in California. Thus the sort of hollow self-righteous condemnation of racism from such players, which Katy Grimes described, is as far as they will go. And obviously they will never address the blatant scheming and corruption that was exposed here. Why would they? Why call attention to that game? — that they merrily play themselves? Without conscience or consequence?
What strikes me about this incident and what I keep coming back to is that the L.A. players who keep popping up at the public podium (the now very left-wing NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, usual-suspect left-wing inner city “churches,” the L.A. County Dem Party, and others) to actually DEMAND resignation of these council members are the ones who appear have designs on building a Marxist-Communist (or whatever you want to call it) majority L.A. City Council. I think that is what should worry us.
As much as I would like to see loathsome politicians such as Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo resign from their council seats and then (we can only hope) disappear from public view, I think there is more to this than meets the eye, and to me it appears that the “new school” of more malevolent leftist politicians are angling to sweep the “old school” leftist players out of the way.
Look, I think major Democrats in California are staying silent because they fear they will be next to have audio of them released saying similar things. But as the LEFT always says, if you’re conservative and don’t denounce other Conservatives who make racist remarks, then you are aligned with them..!!
Still waiting on Gruesome Newscum to say anything but all we are hearing are crickets..!!!
YES, agree with you, CPUNerd, that fear of explosive old recordings potentially turning up is another likely reason for their silence.
Also, saw this yesterday.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday condemned racially charged comments made by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez during a 2021 recorded conversation, but he stopped short of calling for Martinez and other elected officials involved to resign.”
https://heysocal.com/2022/10/10/newsom-condemns-racist-la-council-comments-no-resignation-call/
So in other words, the usual blah blah blah from Gruesome.
Thanks, I never found anything like this.
BUT, get this: I just heard that BIDEN called for the three L.A. City council members’ resignation! (The story has gone national, as you probably know.) So will Gruesome change his statement and stick with the Dem Party damage-control line? Guess we’ll see….. LOL
No matter WHAT Demo big wig(s) demand their resignations, these three will NOT resign their Council paychecks, er, seats. It’s the only LEGAL money they receive. They CERTAINLY can’t live off their bribes and payoffs if they lose their seats. Also, they CAN’T be recalled: L.A. County has proved that EVEN D.A. GASCON can’t be recalled.
The Democratic party is the party of Jim Crow, poll taxes and slavery. The are racist to the core. Why would they call out one of their own? Maybe they will throw her under the bus since and election is coming up.
It’s October Surprise Month.
Someone’s got this type of material on every politician. I guess she didn’t want to play nice with whomever was in the blackmail seat.
California has bigger things to worry about. It’s sad that it seems like conservatives keep considering it a win to replace liberal politicians with liberal politicians. Meabwhile, your governor says something retarded every time he opens his mouth. Get your priorities straight. Calling for resignations because no-no words were used is the job of UC Berkely freshman. California Globe, you’re better than this.
I agree, Edward. The whole thing, as I expected, is turning into a freaking circus. It will be musical chairs among the Democrats and the odd person will be left out. Nothing will change. Do people really believe that human nature can be manipulated for better or worse? Focus on the things that you can actually fix – like schools, roads and energy.
To too many, it’s only racist when it’s White people making comments. However, they have far more positive(or at least less negative) things to say when non-Whites are dishing it out. Non-White on White racism is accelerating, and it needs to stop.