A leaked audio spurred a racist scandal in the Los Angeles City Council. Hispanic council members, including the president, used racial insults against the black adoptive son of a gay progressive Democratic colleague of theirs.
Council President Wants to Give ‘Little Monkey’ a ‘Beatdown’
A report by The Los Angeles Times published on Sunday leaked an audio recording from an October 2021 conversation. This was involving LA City Council head Nury Martinez and other Hispanic council members.
During the private conversation, the participants made openly racist remarks towards the black son of LA councilmember Mike Bonin, a white gay man, including referring to the child with a Spanish word for a “monkey.”
The others involved in the shocking conversation were councilmembers Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, together with Ron Herrera, the President of the LA County Federation of Labor.
The four of them were speaking about redistricting when Council President Nury Martinez blasted Mike Bonin for using the parenting of his black adoptive son as an “accessory.”
She sounded indignant over the child’s behavior during last year’s parade for Martin Luther King Day, claiming if she and other women hadn’t intervened to “parent this kid,” the float may have tipped over.
Martinez raged that Bonin and his husband are “raising” the child “like a white kid,” whereas she thought he needed “a beatdown.”
She also expressed a desire to “take him around the corner,” apparently for some corporal “disciplining,” before bringing him back.
In referring to Bonin’s son, she used the Spanish phrase “ese changuito,” meaning “that little monkey.”
De Leon reacted by comparing Bonin’s parenting of the child to Martinez’s bringing of her “little yard bag” or “Louis Vuitton bag.”
Our family statement about today's ugly and hateful news. pic.twitter.com/0fPPXwsS5B
— Mike Bonin (@mikebonin) October 9, 2022
This is unbelievable: LA City Council President Nury Martinez was recorded calling a fellow councilmember's 2 year-old Black son "a little monkey" and said she wanted to give him a "beat-down." She said this about a TWO YEAR OLD. @CD6Nury must resign. https://t.co/RPlwBNyxaN pic.twitter.com/vs1nKGzkr0
— Adam Conover (@adamconover) October 9, 2022
‘Vile, Abhorrent, and Utterly Disgraceful’
Democrat Mike Bonin and his husband later issued a statement denouncing the LA Council President and others involved in the leaked conversation over their racist language towards their black son.
Bonin’s family declared they were “appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted” over the “racial slurs,” not to mention Martinez’s desire to “physically harm” the toddler.
Bonin and his husband Sean Arian further described the behavior of the latter’s Latino colleagues as “vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful.” The family called for the immediate dismissal of Nury Martinez as President of the Los Angeles City Council.
Bonin and Arian further argued the “vulgar anti-black sentiment” in the “entirety” of the conversation was part of a “coordinated effort” designed to “weaken” the political representation of black people in Los Angeles.
It remains unclear who made the recording of the scandalous conversation from October 2021 and who leaked it to the press. The recording itself was also posted on Reddit.
In other parts of the redistricting conversation in question, Nury Martinez referred to Bonin as “that little b—h,” while De Leon added Bonnin would never support the Latinos.
“He’s with the Blacks,” Martinez retorts, after saying, “F— that guy,” as cited by Fox 11 Los Angeles and Fox News Digital.
In another remark in the conversation, Martinez says white councilmembers are the ones who “will motherf*** you” in a heartbeat.
The LA Council President issued a statement of apology on Monday, ascribing her comments to a situation of “intense frustration and anger.”
She argued, however, that her work in favor of the communities of color in LA “speaks for itself.” De Leon also put out a statement in which he apologized for the “insensitive comments” during the leaked conversation.
Outside the home of LA City Council President Nury Martinez, protesters are asking for her resignation and playing the leaked recordings on a loudspeaker. pic.twitter.com/PJNgXOpfQG
— Jon peltz (@JonnyPeltz) October 10, 2022