Following the leaked audio of racist remarks from October 21, 2021, former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez and former LA County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, have resigned from their positions. The public and political officials are pushing for the two other LA council members who took part in the audio conversations, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, to step down from their positions.
However, in a Univision interview with journalist León Krauze, de León publicly explained that he does not want to resign, “I will not resign because there is a lot of work ahead of me. There is a lot of work that we have to face. The crisis that is taking place in the district, the infections, the unemployment, the threat of eviction, the humanitarian crisis of the homeless.”
De León expressed his apologies for causing harm to communities affected by the racist conversations he was a part of.
“I feel very bad, I feel very sorry for the damage, for the wounds that exist today in our communities. And I’m so sorry. I am sorry and for that, I apologize to all my people, to my entire community, for the damage caused by the painful words that were carried out that day last year,” de León said to Krauze.
In a CBS News LA interview with political reporter Tom Wait, de León said he wants to help heal the damage he caused. De León recognized he failed to stop the racist conversations that occurred between Martinez, Herrera, Cedillo, and himself.
According to a CBS News LA article, de León was heard in the leaked recording comparing Councilman Mike Bonin’s two-year-old son to a handbag. This was followed after Martinez addressed the child as a “little monkey.”
“He later said he was ‘shocked’ by Martinez’s comments and said his ‘joke’ was directed toward Martinez’s ‘penchant for having luxury goods,’” the CBS News LA article mentioned. De León claimed he apologized to his colleague and his family.
Also, de León said the comments Martinez made about the Oaxacan community in the audio recording do not represent who he is as a person and his view toward Oaxacans.
“Those horrible comments did not come from my mouth, I greatly appreciate the Oaxacan community and recognize the contributions to our society. These were not my words, but I failed and I admit that I failed, because of my silence,” de León said in a statement.
As for Cedillo, he is currently choosing not to resign his political leadership.
CALÓ NEWS spoke with Latinos about de León’s refusal, the issue of racism within the Latino community, and what the community needs from its officials going forward.
Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
MYRAH MORENO, 29, MID CITY LOS ANGELES, UNEMPLOYED, SHE/HER, HISPANIC
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
It is an embarrassment to Latinos. When someone in a high position makes racist statements, it not only makes them look bad but also makes the people they are representing look just as bad.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
Yes, I do believe racism is a big problem in the Latino community. In some cases, there are lighter-skinned Latinos that think of themselves as better than other Latinos because of the color of their skin. Many Latinos remain ignorant and do not realize that they are following the racial caste system that has been set in place in the USA.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
I believe they should follow Nury’s lead and resign as well. They became complicit in the inappropriate comments that Nury had made when they did not correct her or bring attention to the racism that she was displaying.
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
Latinos need elected leaders who can be respectful towards the community and their colleagues as well as have a good moral compass. Leaders should focus on helping to bring different groups together rather than tearing them apart. We’ve had a significant amount of issues arise regarding racism and segregation in the past couple of years due to bad political leaders and it is time that we begin electing officials who will help unite our country.
DOLORES MIRANDA, 62, LOS ANGELES, UNEMPLOYED DUE TO DISABILITY, SHE/HER, LATINA
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
When you are going to open your mouth, you need to have your brain very well connected with your tongue before making a message. Even more so if it is a message of discrimination, hate, religion, race, or any of these situations. Of course it hurts Latinos.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
It’s racism, it’s discrimination, and it’s disrespect. It doesn’t help at all when you address a person because of color or because of differences in preferences.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
They have to resign because it was a total complicity. Any of the three should have been able to stop the comments.
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
To begin with, we need to trust them with what they are working on. They are public servants. They are there to work for the community to find out what we need in everything that is services, health, and education. The main issues are not to discriminate against anyone, which is one of those that they failed at the moment. They have to focus a lot on the main needs, housing, education, jobs, and employees.
PAULETTE COVA, 32, MID CITY WEST ADAMS LOS ANGELES, CHEF/EVENT PRODUCER, SHE/HER/THEY/THEM, MEXICAN-AMERICAN
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
I’ve actually gone through a rollercoaster of emotions just because I feel so close to them and these are people that I really admired and looked up to and was rooting for them being Latina/Latinx/Latin. These are my representatives not only for my community but also for where I come from. Nury Martinez, especially. Being a woman and doing all the work she did, like being an advocate for immigrant families and first-generation moms and pops, I was shocked. I was kind of like, ‘I’ve heard all of these things before. I’ve heard people say these things anywhere, but not my representatives.’ It is not their backyard. They were in a closed room, they were still in the labor office. It’s not like they were in their backyard in Montebello or something. I was listening to one reporter from the LA Times. He was saying it was not a carne asada.
First of all, she [Martinez] sounds terrible as a gossip, as a woman. You just sound like you’re talking sh** about everyone. Like you’re going down the list, it sounds like you’re miserable and you hate your life. You’re just miserable and it goes to show what her true personality is. It actually harms Latinos. It sends us back decades. All the work that Latinos have done. We are kind of like third-class citizens. First-class citizens are White, second-class citizens are African Americans, and third-class citizens I feel are Asians, Latinos, and other people of color. People who are not native to this country. African Americans, this is their country, they were forced here versus people who are Latinos, Asian, Middle Eastern, or European, they all chose to come here. So, I feel it is a shame.
At the Martin Luther King Jr. parade, out of all the things, the little boy was just being a boy. He was being a kid, that’s it he was just being a kid. It is a parade. What do you expect? This absolutely harms Latinos. It makes us look like it is us against them. It makes all look like she represents us and she doesn’t represent me. It is horrible, horrible, horrible.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
Absolutely, but I think it is even more than racism. It is like xenophobia, it is anything. It can be anything. Latinos are so caught up on adjectives, ‘Oh la gorda, la guera, el negro.’ That is how they refer to people. They don’t call people by their names, they give them nicknames for what they look like. You got one eye ‘El ciego.’ They’re like ‘Lotería cards.’ I think that is completely inappropriate. I think that is very old-school thinking. I feel like that is dismissive. One thing about the Black Lives Movement is say their name. So they say ‘Oh that little Black boy.’ No, say their name because you have power in your name. It is your identity. That is the first question and anything you put your script to is your name. I feel that is a very, very closed minded and a horrible way to live. Being a description and not a noun.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
I actually was an advocate and I donated money to de León’s mayor campaign. I voted for him. A lot of my friends and family voted for him. Even just shortly, a couple of weeks ago, I was giving him props. It’s like ‘que verguenza.’ But, after listening to him, because I listened to his Univision interview and, honestly, he does have to get to work. Now more than anything. He shouldn’t resign. I think he owes us. I don’t think he should resign. I think he should work double time. I think he should get to work. To be quite frank. You don’t want to leave because you have work to do? Then get to work. Do the work. Don’t just call off on Tuesday because you don’t want to go to the assembly.
If those two men are going to stay as representatives, they owe us and they owe us big time. I believe in second chances. You better make it up to us. You have to fight for what we believe in. I was also listening to a podcast about how the representation of Latinos actually is. We are 52% or 51% of the population and there are only so many Latinos who represent us. There are only so many Latinos who are in office. We don’t have representation. Unfortunately, sometimes our representatives are snakes but we still need somebody who understands our language. Who knows how we talk, who knows how we live. I think there needs to be radical changes to the whole infrastructure of city council members. I think their terms are too long. I also think they need to expand it and they really need to be more hands-on with the community.
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
You know what Latinos need from elected leaders? Is to actually run and be elected. Actually run for office. That’s what they need. What they need from elected leaders is to actually be Latinos. If you want to have a voice, go out and run. I personally wouldn’t win any election. I don’t feel there is animo, the ability to believe that we actually can and to actually do it. That is the first thing, elected leaders to actually be Latinos. Get out there and represent us.
They need to focus on housing obviously. They need to do something about gasoline, transit, transportation, and the inability to get anything easily here. I lived in New York and even during the COVID crisis, it was so easy to get COVID tested. Here, everything’s a challenge. You gotta go through hoops. Even our police departments. They have so many lawsuits and they are in a hiring freeze, so they can’t even hire more police officers. I feel there should be more protection. People are just getting killed like nothing and it doesn’t matter to them. They don’t care. They don’t care about us. People are dying, they are getting stabbed and hurt and killed just because they are outside. I think overall safety from violence.
JOSE MARTINEZ, 35, BOYLE HEIGHTS LOS ANGELES, MECHANIC, HE/HIM, LATINO
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
I think this scandal may be a political strategy from Rick Caruso or other politicians who have the power to gain. But it has brought to light all of the corruption that really is behind the city council. So many politicians in the city are now facing criminal sentences for racketeering and bribery.
This has absolutely harmed Latinos, but we are resilient. This too shall pass. Corruption has always been an issue in each Latin American country. Political greed is a human’s sin.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
Yes, racism is a problem within the community, but in every community. Our society has made the color of your skin a value instead of just a genetic feature. I feel that racism is a human issue.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
He should resign for self dignity. His PR people can turn this scandal around, it may have made him even more popular. Like Trump and Kanye, there’s no such thing as bad press I guess?
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
They need to focus on issues that matter for each neighborhood. What matters in South Central doesn’t matter in Sherman Oaks. They need to find solutions for each geographical location, but overall the biggest issue is housing.
Instead of gerrymandering and relining to close us off from funding or gather more votes, they should incorporate as a whole. Unite the city as one. Los Angeles is so divided, it’s getting so much worse with corporations hogging up all the single-family real estate for a rental market. Instead of solely focusing on apartments for rental units, they can make condominiums. Being a homeowner is the fastest and most secure way to gain generational wealth. In this country, we should have the ability to be homeowners. They stole so much from Native lands, the least they can do is at least sell it back!
EDUARDO RIVERA, 26, LOS ANGELES/WILMINGTON, CALIF., GRAPHIC DESIGNER/LIBRARY TUTOR, HE/HIM, MEXICAN-AMERICAN
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
I believe that the LA City Hall scandal can positively and negatively affect us Latinos. I believe this is the case because we get to see how fallible the people representing us are, they show us that no one is perfect and don’t truly represent the interest of the people as a whole. I believe this will help us to be more careful with who we choose to represent us in office and even after being elected are still under public scrutiny regardless if they have “secured” their position. Of course, only time will tell, but we shall see if this has any effect for us in the long-term or the short-term.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
It can be, yes. We as Latinos can be the recipient of many “foul gazes” from others just because of how we look and how we came here to America, but, on the flip side, we can dish it out as well. We are all human and by nature are prone to look out for people who are different. We as Latinos are racist towards our own just because of what country we hail from. My father remarks that some people from Central America absolutely despise Mexicans just because of their nationality. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that this type of scandal happened in the first place. This type of hatred seeped into us because it goes back even to colonial times when just by the color of our skin we were categorized by the Spanish invaders. Hence the origin of the word mestizo or mix-blooded in English. If we want to resolve this we have to look at our past to see how much it has affected our present.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
Yes, I believe they should resign. The damage that was caused by these comments is pretty resounding and affects many of the Latino community. Honestly, any goodwill that was once had by these individuals is basically gone and even if they aren’t going to resign they will be thrown out by the people in power. That is if they truly have our best interest in mind.
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
Honestly, they just need to be reminded that they are still human like all of us, just because they hold a position of power doesn’t make them a king or queen. They need to be reminded that power comes with its consequences, with great power comes great responsibility. They should focus on how they will try to actually communicate and help everyday people.
GABRIELA JIMENEZ, 22, LOS ANGELES, RETAIL WORKER, SHE/HER, MEXICAN-AMERICAN
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LA CITY HALL SCANDAL AND HOW DOES IT HELP OR HARM LATINOS?
When I first heard about the scandal, I was shocked to learn that Latino leaders spoke that way of people of the Latino community and made racist remarks towards other racial groups. Since they are in a position of power, I expected them to be ones who would help our community as a whole without disrespecting certain parts of it. I think this harms Latinos since it reminds us that just because someone else is Latino and has power, doesn’t mean that the entire Latino community would be in their interest and that they are free of prejudices. Among the general population, it harms the Latino community through a separation of those who see a racism problem with comments made in the leaked audio and those who don’t and are willing to forgive the council members.
IS RACISM A BIG PROBLEM WITHIN THE LATINO COMMUNITY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
It is definitely a problem. There is a social hierarchy in the Latino community that pushes Indigenous peoples and those with darker skin down the hierarchy. On the other hand, there are Latinos who are white-passing and they take advantage of that to try and get privileges with it. Those who are white-passing can be hesitant to help Latinos who are lower in the hierarchy because they think it’ll harm the advantage they have.
SHOULD DE LEÓN AND CEDILLO RESIGN AS NURY MARTINEZ DID, WHY OR WHY NOT?
I think they should resign as well. Both de León and Cedillo were participants in the conversation and there were never any comments made to defend or support the targeted racial or ethnic groups during this. De León has spoken out later saying that he doesn’t agree with those comments and those aren’t his values, but he let those comments pass by as if they were nothing, which I think reflects on his character. I also think they should resign because they were purposely planning to redistrict areas to be hugely in their favor, while, at the same time, being aware that other officials would be at a disadvantage.
WHAT DO LATINOS NEED MOST FROM ELECTED LEADERS GOING FORWARD? WHAT ISSUES SHOULD THEY FOCUS ON AND WHY?
We need to see more cultural and racial diversity awareness not only in the Latino community but our living communities as well. The public needs to feel like they are being heard and represented well by elected leaders. I feel like elected leaders should understand the people and communities they’re representing to better help them, but this cannot be achieved if they aren’t respectful towards them or their culture, race, or ethnicity.