Do you all remember the leaked call that featured Los Angeles City Council members Kevin De Leon, Gil Cedill, and former LA City Council President Nury Martinez making racist and anti-Black statements?
If you don’t recall, they were heard mocking the Black son of white council member, Mike Bonin. Specifically, Martinez was heard calling him an “accessory” and describing him as a “Parece changuito” or “like a monkey.”
The group was also heard calling Bonin a “little bitch” and De Leon compared the way Bonin handles his son to holding a Louis Vuitton purse.
Martinez was also heard saying, “Fuck that guy... He’s with the Blacks” when talking about LA County District Attorney George Gascón.
The blowback from this October 2021 call led to Martinez resigning just days after the audio was released. But the other participants of this infamous call have not backed down and De Leon in particular has not allowed the controversy to get to him.
Despite protests by local Los Angeles residents, President Joe Biden requesting that he step down, and residents telling him to his face that he needs to leave his post, De Leon has not listened. Instead, he’s taken it a step further.
On Wednesday, he announced that he plans to run for re-election in 2024.
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“When a lot of people that I called my friends and allies turned away from me, my constituents had my back,” De León said in an interview. “I understood in a deeper way the relationship that I had with my community and how that motivates and drives me. That’s why I’m still here. And that’s why I’m running.”
I mean of all the things I expected to hear from this guy, this was not one of them. Despite the circumstances in which the audio was leaked, you were heard on a call being anti-Black. There’s nothing he can say to dispute that.
You’ve lost the trust of the people you represent and other Black politicians you work with. Speakers at LA council meetings have said that the remarks made by De Leon and others on the call echoed the Jim Crow era and are an example of “anti-Blackness.”
If he’s awarded another four-year term, that’ll show the lack of care that community members have for their Black residents.