Los Angeles residents call for council members to resign after leaked racist comments

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The former Los Angeles City Council president announced Tuesday that she was taking a leave of absence following calls for her, two of her colleagues and a labor leader to resign after they were caught making racist and offensive remarks in a leaked audio recording that has caused a firestorm in City Hall. 

Councilwoman Nury Martinez, who represents parts of the city's San Fernando Valley, made the announcement Tuesday, the first time the council met since the Los Angeles Times reported on the recording. 

"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. "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."

Numerous local and state leaders have called for Martinez and council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo to step down. Martinez stepped down as council president on Monday, but critics have said it's not good enough. 

LA CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT CALLED TO STEP DOWN OVER RACIST REMARKS IN LEAKED AUDIO 

Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de León, left, and then-Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez confer at an Oct. 4 city council meeting. Martinez, de Leon and Councilman Gil Cedillo are being pressured to resign after they were caught on an audio recording making racist and offensive remarks.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who was part of the October 2021 conversation, resigned from his post on Monday. All four have publicly apologized.

The council met for the first Tuesday since the scandal erupted over the weekend. Councilman Mitch O'Farrell was elevated to interim president. Meanwhile, protesters outside City Hall were seen calling for the other three city leaders to resign. Several public speakers called for the three council members to be removed and investigated. 

The firestorm came after the Times published an article detailing a conversation between the four where they spoke about the city's redistricting process at the time. However, Martinez could be heard mocking the Black son of Councilman Mike Bonin, saying he handled the child like an "accessory" and described him as a "parece changuito," or "like a monkey."

She also referred to Bonin as a "little b----" and made fun of Mexicans from Oaxaca, which is known for its indigenous people and culture. 

DISGRACED FORMER LA CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT SAID CUTTING POLICE FUNDING 'STEP' TOWARD ENDING RACISM

Veronica Sance holds a sign in a news conference to denounce racism and demand change in response to a recorded, racially charged leaked conversation between leaders at City Hall and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President, before the Los Angeles City Council meeting outside city hall on Tuesday. (AP)

"I see a lot of little short dark people," Martinez said referring to an area of the largely Hispanic Koreatown neighborhood. "I was like, I don’t know where these people are from, I don’t know what village they came (from), how they got here," she said, adding "tan feos" — "They’re ugly."

De Leon also called Bonin the council's fourth Black member. 

"Mike Bonin won’t f—-ing ever say peep about Latinos. He’ll never say a f—-ing word about us," he said.

In addition to Bonin and other council members, leaders and elected officials up and down California have called for all four to step down, including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, U.S. Rep. Adam B. Schiff and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and various local law enforcement unions and figures.

Mike Bonin, Los Angeles City Council member, speaks during a press conference at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on May 24, 2021, in Los Angeles. Nury Martinez, the president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from the post Monday, Oct. 10, 2022, after she was heard making racist comments and other coarse remarks in a leaked recording of a conversation with other Latino leaders.  (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

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"Bigotry, violence, and division too often live in unseen and unheard places, but have severe consequences on the lives of our fellow Angelenos when they are not confronted and left to infect our public and private lives," Garcetti said in a statement.