The President of the Los Angeles City Council, Nury Martinez, called it quits after she was heard making racist remarks in a leaked recording of her conversation with other Latino leaders. She also issued an apology and expressed shame.
In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends, she said in a statement. Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council.
However, the statement did not announce her resignation.
In the recording that sparked a row, Martinez said that white Councilmember Mike Bonin handled his young Black son as if he were an accessory and described the son as behaving Parece changuito, or like a monkey, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
Martinez also referred to Bonin as a little bitch and at another point mocked Oaxacans, the Times said.
I see a lot of little short dark people, Martinez said in reference to a particular area of the largely Hispanic Koreatown neighborhood.
I was like, I dont know where these people are from, I dont know what village they came (from), how they got here, Martinez said, adding Tan feos Theyre ugly.
The recordings content sparked a huge controversy weeks before elections for the mayors office and several council seats.
Bonin and his husband, Sean Arian, were part of a growing chorus calling for the resignations of Martinez and two other council members who were involved.
The entirety of the recorded conversation … displayed a repeated and vulgar anti-Black sentiment, and a coordinated effort to weaken Black political representation in Los Angeles, they said.
Also demanding the council members resignations were labor leaders, indigenous groups, the state Democratic Party, US Sen Alex Padilla, US Rep Adam B Schiff and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
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.
The conversation was recorded in October 2021, and others present were Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Len and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, the Times reported. The overall discussion was about frustrations with redistricting maps produced by a city commission.
The Times reported that the approximately hourlong audio was posted on Reddit by a now-suspended user and that it was unclear who recorded the audio and whether anyone else was present at the meeting.
Martinez initially issued an apology after the Times article appeared online.
In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me and I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that I am sorry, she said.
The context of this conversation was concern over the redistricting process and concern about the potential negative impact it might have on communities of color, she said. My work speaks for itself. Ive worked hard to lead this city through its most difficult time.
Martinez, whose district website labels her as a glass-ceiling shattering leader who brings profound life experience as the proud daughter of working-class immigrants, was elected to the council in 2013 and became the councils first Latina president in 2020.