Los Angeles Council's Racist Recording Prompts Gov. Gavin Newsom To Call for Resignation Members' Resignation

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The resignation of all involved in the Los Angeles City Council racist audio leak scandal has now been demanded by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

The well-known Democrat has suggested that the two remaining council members, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, should resign in addition to former Council President Nuri Martinez. On October 12, Martinez made her resignation public.

Los Angeles City Council Racist Audio Leak

His remarks followed their KQED discussion with Republican Sen. Brian Dahle, his opponent for governor. Despite losing the election to Eunisses Hernandez earlier this year, Cedillo will be leaving office soon.

De Leon has stated repeatedly that he has no intention of leaving his position. In an interview, he stated: "No, I will not resign, because there is lot of work ahead of me." He also called the remarks a "bad joke." De Leon can be heard making a comparison between Martinez attending council meetings with a Louis Vuitton bag and a colleague's black son in the tape that was released.

The two were fired from their committee positions a week ago. The housing and homelessness committees of the council were consequently without chairs, as per Daily Mail. The public, President Joe Biden, and other prominent political leaders have harshly criticized the city council members for remarks they made on a leaked audio tape from October 2021.

The Los Angeles City Council recently elected a new leader after a yelling mob of demonstrators demanded that the vote be postponed unless two councilmen apologized for their roles in a 2021 meeting that featured crude, racist remarks. Following a week of unrest and public indignation over the racial tirades that threatened to halt the Council's operations and forced Nury Martinez to leave, Councilman Paul Krekorian has been chosen to preside over the chamber.

According to Fox News, Ron Herrera, the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a significant union figure who also attended the 2021 secret meeting, resigned last week.

The two other participants in the leaked conversation, Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, were removed from committee assignments related to real estate development, housing, homelessness, and other issues, according to acting Los Angeles City Council President Mitch O'Farrell.

Los Angeles' Complex Politics

Four Latino leaders were heard discussing how to redraw electoral boundaries to their advantage on a leaked recording that has upended Los Angeles politics this month. They used racial slurs and other derogatory language that was widely condemned. Per New York Times, the recording also revealed anger at the lack of Latino representation in political positions, despite the fact that they make up half of the city's population.

The current composition of the City Council, where white and Black leaders have more seats than demographics may imply, is the product of decades of political compromises and decisions. The revelation of the audio has also sparked a discussion about the relevance of earlier generations' racial bloc politics.

The Ninth District has a low voter turnout rate, and some locals claimed that despite their ongoing worries about crime and homelessness, they don't pay much attention to local politics. Maria Robles, 30, was hustling her 8-year-old son home from school in South Los Angeles when she pondered what the regional lawmakers would do to address issues.

The disparity between the city's Latino population and its degree of influence, however, has always been a problem. This is never more apparent than in the Ninth District, where Latinos now make up 80% of the population.

A growing number of Latino immigrants arrived in South Los Angeles in the 1980s as a result of economic turmoil in Mexico and civil upheavals in Central America. At the same time, the Black middle class was leaving the area as manufacturing jobs disappeared, gang violence increased, and drug use increased. By 1990, more over half of the local population was Latino, according to census statistics examined by SocialExplorer.com.