Los Angeles City Council President Nouri Martinez resigned on Monday after she and two other councillors were recorded making racist remarks.
Newest: Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, submitted his resignation Monday night, citing his involvement in racist conversations, the Los Angeles Times reported.
- Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor, told the New York Times that he resigned at a meeting of the labor organization’s executive committee.
Push the news: In a statement announcing his resignation, Martinez asked forgiveness from “my colleagues and the residents of my beloved city.”
- “In the end, the most important thing is not my apology, but the actions I take starting today. I hope you will give me the opportunity to make amends. Therefore, I resign from the presidency, effective immediately. Los Angeles City Council,” the statement continued.
- The California and Los Angeles branches of the NAACP demanded Sunday night that Martinez and others resign after the Los Angeles Times reported she called a black child a monkey.
- The NAACP chapter also called on Congressmen Gil Cedillo, Kevin de León and Herrera to step down because of their involvement in discussions of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous comments.
detail: Martinez at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade, according to leaked audio Or nearly a year of conversations.
- Martinez also reportedly said Congressman Mike Bonin treated his son as if he were an “appendage.” She also referred to Bonin as a “little b—h.”
- Herrera suggested that Bonin make his young son public like a lawn jockey, the racist statues used to evoke the antebellum South.
Martinez Also heard making fun of natives from the Mexican state of Oaxaca who have immigrated to Los Angeles.
- She called them “short blacks” and called them “ugly.”
What are they talking about: “This kind of overt racism has no place in the political discourse,” Rick L. Callender, president of the NAACP CA/HI state conference, said in a statement.
- “We know exactly where your heart and mind are, they are all corrupted by other racism and hatred.”
at the same time, Los Angeles Oaxaca chef, restaurateur and Gold Award winner Bricia Lopez took to social media to call for her resignation.
- The words from[Nuri Martinez’s]mouth are etched in the Oaxaca community of Los Angeles. I have dealt with my fair share of racism. But it’s ten times worse when it comes from a brown and woman. Girl, you have to resign. ” She tweeted.
Zoom out: The secretly recorded conversation revolves around lawmakers’ frustration that the growing Latino population is not leading to more Latino parliamentary constituencies and concerns from black leaders that some black-majority constituencies are being retained.
- Martinez, De Leon and Herrera have issued apologies for their roles in the conversation. Zedillo told the Los Angeles Times that he has no memory of the discussion.
or a note: Protesters demonstrated outside Martinez’s home on Sunday and some recordings were played. Los Angeles police were seen trying to move the crowd away from her home in a video later shared on social media.
- Further protests were organised on Monday, with images shared on social media showing the De Leon.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with Martinez’s statement confirming details of her resignation and further protests. The title has also been updated.